It had been quite a few years since I saw Sacred Reich live. But now they have a new album out and are touring Europe for it. And one of the gigs was even in the nearby Leiden. All the more reasons to go there.

The only support act of the evening was Night Demon, from the USA. This power trio plays more traditional heavy metal, or NWOBHM. It reminds me especially of the first few Iron Maiden albums, quite raw and a bit punkish. Generally up speed and relatively short songs. Both the bass and the guitar play a prominent roll in the music which makes it interesting. The drum set is quite minimalistic, an extra tom or so might give it some extra dimension here and there. And the vocals are a bit bland. As an encore they played a cover of Radar Love, originally by the Golden Earring, which is quite cool for an young American band to even know this song. They turned it into a rendition of their own style driven mostly by the bass and some faster sections, and altered lyrics (no Brandon Lee, but Motorhead). Interesting openings act.

Then it was time for the main event, Sacred Reich. After some 23 years they have released a new album. It was received with mixed feelings, but that happened to nearly all their albums since The American Way. I hadn’t listened to it yet, tho. The opening songs was a new song, which sounded quite dull actually. The older songs on the set sounded very a lot more aggressive and varied. Though songs like Awakening and Manifest Reality sounded way better. So I guess the new album is a bit hit and miss as Killing Machine sounded also quite dull. The rest of the set was comprised of a best of selection, where only Heal was skipped. Throughout the set Phil seemed very pleased and grateful for playing this tour and thanked the audience several times extensively. The set ended with Death Squad and obviously Surf Nicaragua. Great gig.