Members:
Richard F. Hesselink – Vocals
Randy Meinhard – Guitars
Gerrit Knol – Guitars
Kees Harrison – Bass
Jonas Schütz – Live Drums
SACROSANCT was established in 1988 by guitarist Randy Meinhard and drummer Marco Foddis,
who had learned to know each either while joining Pestilence.
In 1990 SACROSANCT released its
debut album ‘Truth is – what is’. The album is characterized by technically sophisticated thrash metal.
The dual guitars create a straight as well as spherical and melodious tapestry of sound, interrupted by
the tight drumming and the moaning, but angry and rude voice.
Creative band head Randy Meinhard considered guitar duos of bands like Queensrÿche, Exodus or
Iron Maiden as a main influence, and Ace Frehley of Kiss as initial spark.
In Rock Hard magazine the
later Publisher Holger Stratmann claimed: ‘The record contains as many riffs as all Slayer-albums
altogether.’
SACROSANCT created their second album ‘Recesses for the depraved’ in 1991 at Dust Music Studio
in Hilchenbach.
With a more edgy sound it was little melodious and spheric than the debut.
For the
album cover SACROSANCT even managed to deal with the rights for H. R. Giger’s picture ‘Das
Spiegelbild’.
When Giger died, 23 years later, the Rolling Stone magazine stated ‘the disturbing Giger
cover art accurately conveyed the savage nature of the music’.
‘Tragic Intense’ got even more melodious and spherical than the debut.
On the other hand staccatoparts
are rarely on it. In an interview for the music mag Iron Pages Randy Meinhard stated in April of
1993 that the dark basic mood is what we intended to do. It just should sound sinister.
In that issue Markus Wosgien described the album as a mixture of Thrash-, Doom- and Power-Metal, and
classified it as a milestone in this genre. Frank Albrecht rated it with nine out of ten points.
The
opening song At least pain lasts – a sung suicide note should become predictive:
A short while after
Tragic Intense the band broke up.
The brainchild of former Pestilence (NL) guitarist Randy Meinhard, have returned to the scene after a
25-year hiatus with a new album, ‚Necropolis', released through Rock of Angels Records (ROAR) on
November 30th, 2018.
‚Necropolis' was engineered, mixed and mastered by Max Morton of Morton Studios, who has also
remastered the entire SACROSANCT back catalogue.
A prolific professional with a broad clientele,
Max has worked with a wide variety of acts, including prominent Ukranian metalcore combo Jinjer.
The objective with ‚Necropolis' was to record a classic, analogue-sounding album using modern
technologies, and at the same time avoid any modern metal clichés.
Initially intended solely as a studio project, ‚Necropolis' was recorded by a brand-new SACROSANCT
line-up featuring Randy Meinhard and Christian Göwert on guitars, Richard F. Hesselink on vocals,
and Kees Harrison – formerly of Dutch prog-metal act Sphere of Souls – on bass. During the
recording sessions, it soon became apparent that the new line-up wanted to continue working together and bring the new material to the stage.
With the support of ROAR! Rock Of Angels
Records, SACROSANCT are now looking forward to bringing these plans to fruition.
While ‚Necropolis' bears all of the hallmarks and intricacies that characterize SACROSANCT, it
displays a more mature and focused song-writing approach.
Songs like ‘The New Age Of Fear’, ‘My
Last White Light’ and ‘Only One God‘ are lyrically thought-provoking, creating a brand of metal that
still makes the band hard to categorize. Like its predecessor, ‘Tragic Intense’, which was released in
1993, ‚Necropolis' places a strong emphasis on melancholy melodies and clean vocals, but also
incorporates many harmony guitar parts, faster tempos and some modern twists that mark the
beginning of a new chapter for the band.
The epic cover art for ‚Necropolis' was designed by Giannis Nakos based on the band’s ideas, and
perfectly portrays the album’s dark subject matter. It prominently features SACROSANCT’s new
mascot, the Weeping Angel – a guardian and an avenger of injustice.
Stay Tragic!
