Sacred Reich are back! They explain why it’s taken so long.
When Sacred Reich split in 2000, they’d run out of ideas and thrash was in a slump. Now, they’re back with ex-Machine Head man Dave McClain and ready for war
t was fuckin’ magical,” says Phil Rind, Sacred Reich’s singer and bassist. He is describing the experience of putting together the band’s first album in 23 years – the monster Awakening. “We’d just pinch ourselves and look at each other and say, ‘This is so killer.’ We want the record to do good and we believe people will like it. But even if no one does, we know what we did. That is reward in itself.”
Phil and guitarist Jason Rainey formed Sacred Reich in Phoenix, Arizona, back in 1985. The following year, when thrash metal broke through after Metallica’s epoch-defining
Master Of Puppets, they released a demo tape, Draining You Of Life. With its sparky blend of ratcheting brutality and precocious songcraft, it quickly became the thrash scene’s hottest, most in-demand demo, drawing the attention of Metal Blade with help from local buddy Jason Newsted and his band, Flotsam And Jetsam.
On their debut LP, the 1987 thrash classic Ignorance, the young band incorporated a political and social conscience – addressing problems such as pollution, world hunger, American warmongering and indoctrination in schools – that came to distinguish their approach. But they were never dry, worthy or preachy with it, as they proved with 1988’s uproarious followup, Surf Nicaragua.
Throughout the 90s, Sacred Reich’s fortunes shifted with those of the ailing thrash genre, from the highpoint buzz of 1990’s Billboard-charting The American Way, to 1996’s widely overlooked endpoint Heal, via divisive flirtations with grunge, groove metal and funk rock. Before Heal’s release, drummer Dave McClain left to join Machine Head, where he remained until last September. And as the
21st century dawned, Phil dissolved Sacred Reich, sold his gear and left the music business altogether. What had gone wrong?
Phil’s explanation is simple and honest: “The songs dried up,” explains the softly spoken singer in his relaxed, Arizonian drawl. “It was obvious that a band with no songs, you know… things were coming to a close. Maybe it sounds all new agey and shit, but
I don’t think you can force that stuff. A friend describes it as a radio signal: when it’s turned on, the songs come.”
He reformed Sacred Reich in 1996, to satiate demand for vintage material on the festival circuit, but still that signal remained jammed – until one day when raging new tune Divide & Conquer showed up. He remembers the vibe in the room after breaking their duck: “‘Wow, this is killer, fuck, we can totally do it!’” he beams. “We spoke to Metal Blade and said, ‘We’re gonna make a record.’ They said, ‘Fuck yeah, let’s do this!’ It was amazing.”
he Sacred mojo was working again, but soon had to contend with more upheaval when longtime drummer Greg Hall was dismissed in 2018 (“It didn’t work out,” is Phil’s diplomatic explanation). After this surprise event, writing for the new album accelerated when Phil’s friend, Tim Radziwill, a drummer with his own studio, invited the band along to work on new songs.
“At that time, Dave was still in Machine Head,” recalls Phil. “Then he split with them, came down and we all started working on new songs together. The thing Dave said that’ll always stick with me is: ‘I always hoped there’d be a time when I could be in Sacred Reich again.’ It fucking almost made me cry. We always got along great, he left for a better opportunity, no one can begrudge him that. But there’s a special place for him.”
With the Heal line-up back in full effect and a clutch of killer new songs demoed, at last Sacred Reich looked ready to grab the world’s attention again. But alas, there was one more sad reality to overcome.
“When we went into the studio, it became obvious that Jason wasn’t gonna be able to do it – he just wasn’t up to it,” Phil says quietly. “Man, I fucking cried for two days, it was fucking heartbreaking. I’m probably closer to him than anyone else in the whole fucking world, and when we started the band it was he and I pushing everything, so when it really hit me that Jason wasn’t going to be part of it…” Phil’s gentle voice cracks with emotion, briefly falling silent. “It was incredibly upsetting. So there was a lot that went into this.”
The search for Jason’s replacement didn’t take them far. Tim Radziwill’s son, Joey, played guitar alongside his dad in Phoenix death metal project Dichotomize, and engineers many of his dad’s studio recordings. But working on Sacred Reich’s demos proved to be a singularly fateful gig for the 22-year-old studio assistant.
“Joey already knew the songs because he’d demoed everything, so after a time he said, ‘Come on, let’s record the record.’ We were like, ‘You don’t wanna be in a band with a bunch of 50-yearold dudes!’ But after two days with him jamming in the studio, it became obvious: Joey is our guitar player. He made it so obvious in every way, not just his playing but his attitude. He just fitted right in.”
Despite being born the year Sacred Reich’s last album came out? “That’s pretty funny, isn’t it?” smiles Phil. “You know what else is funny? Joey was at a Sacred Reich show before he was even born. His mom was pregnant with him at our show! Isn’t that crazy?”
his delightful fact seems to hint that Sacred Reich’s sudden, full-force return to the sweet wellspring of inspiration – powerfully demonstrated by the eight killer songs on Awakening – was somehow written in the stars. Getting back into the rigours of writing, recording and touring after a generation-long lay-off could have been dauntingly stressful, but Phil feels only good vibes, often referring to the current band dynamic as “special”, “magical” and simply “meant to be”.
Assisting in this regard is Buddhism, which Phil started practising soon after splitting up the band in 2000.
“It gives me a better attitude and a different perspective,” he reasons. “I’m more chill, more happy, a better person. When I hit 30, a lot of shit in my life changed, and I was like, ‘How the fuck did I get here?’ And then I realised: you dummy, you did it. Everything you did got you here.
It was karma hitting me in the face.”
The album’s lyrical approach became more Buddhist-inspired as the writing process went on. “Manifest Reality is pretty much out of the mouth of my teacher,
Death Valley is about the Bardo – an intermediate state from The Tibetan Book Of the Dead – and Salvation came from the idea of salvation through music,” he explains. “When you go to festivals, no matter what country or background, everyone is together, music has that uniting quality to it. Then there’s that truth on a deeper level: we’re all the same in the most important ways. No self, no other, no division – that’s very pure Buddhism, the interconnectedness of sentient beings. That ignorance – thinking that there is an ego and a self – is the root of all our trouble.
It’s kinda heavy! It’s a fine line between not wanting to push too much onto people, but putting ideas out that are generally positive.”
The same cannot be said for the current political situations across the globe. As one of the most outspoken, radical bands of thrash’s golden age, how does Phil feel about the current
“EGO AND THE SELF ARE THE ROOT OF ALL OUR TROUBLE”
Phil rind
rise of populist authoritarianism and the flight to the fringes?
“It’s fuelled by the same things: fear and ignorance,” the singer says, with the weary regret of the seasoned liberal observer. “When we look at the refugee crisis, which seems to be fuelling a lot of that fear of outsiders, we have to ask, ‘How it was created?’ That’s Western countries bombing other countries and making them unsafe for people to live, so they have to take their family and leave their home. It’s karma right in your face.
“It occurs to me, you cannot go around the world invading countries, overthrowing governments that you don’t see eye-to-eye with, bombing people into the Stone Age, and not have blowback. Actions have consequences. I often think, ‘Why is there so much violence in the US?’ But if we’ve created a society that’s very violent because of the violence that we export around the world, that makes perfect sense to me.”
In the late 80s, Phil’s reaction to the state of the world marked him out as one of thrash’s angriest young men; in 2019, his warmth, compassion and inner peace make Sacred Reich a far more rounded, nuanced entity. Our chat is underscored by the gratitude that Phil feels at getting a second chance with his band, and how much this opportunity means to them this time around.
“Maybe it’s because we were gone for so long, we had a different level of appreciation for what was happening, especially with Dave coming back,” he considers. “When you’re young and making records, you’re just doing your thing, that’s how things are. When you’re older and you never thought this might happen again, and it does, it takes on a different feel.”
With his band firing on all cylinders, his 23-year songwriting drought consigned to history and the radiant positivity of his Buddhist worldview, Phil sounds increasingly fired up with enthusiasm for Sacred Reich’s future.
“I already have ideas for the next record!” he declares. “It’s pretty amazing how everything came together to where we are today. Making the album was fucking incredible,
I just can’t wait to get out and play it to people, because I feel like our band’s better than it’s ever been. We’re at a really great place, and it all feels like it’s supposed to be this way.”
AWAKENING IS OUT AUGUST 23 VIA METAL BLADE. SACRED REICH TOUR THE UK IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER – SEE P.109 FOR DETAILS