Sacred Warrior - "Rebellion"

Sacred Warrior - Rebellion

1988/2010, Intense Millennium

1. Black Metal

2. Mad, Mad World

3. Stay Away From Evil

4. He Died

5. Children of the Light

6. Rebellion

7. Day of the Lord

8. Heaven's Are Calling

9. Famine

10. Master of Lies

11. Sword of Victory

Bonus Tracks:

12. Day by Day

13. Prince of Peace

In my review of the original I said that I didn't really care for this one as much as the others. For some reason they didn't just resonate with me like Master's Command or Wicked Generation. My edition was also the pooptastic KMG edition with no liner notes or anything. Thankfully Intense Millennium is busily reissuing classic after classic and I was more than happy to plunk down some coin for this edition. All the tracks have been remastered and I have to say that I could definitely tell the difference and it really increased my enjoyment of the album as a whole. It seems just a bit more vibrant, more alive. Granted, I still don't care for "Famine" or "Master of Lies," but the album closer "Sword of Victory" is just phenomenal - as is the rest of the album. The two bonus tracks originally appeared on the Live at Cornerstone 2001 disc but it's nice to actually hear them here. They're not really metal - "Day by Day" is more hard rock and "Prince of Peace" is a ballad. Still good though... and I'm still hoping the band puts something new out soon.

Now with all the gushing out of the way, I do have some complaints. First, the cover. It's gorgeous, it really is, but it doesn't fit the music at all. I held the CD up to my wife and asked, "What kind of music do you think this is?" "Goth," she said. It looks like something Evanescence or a band like H.I.M. would dream up. Not to mention the song isn't about Lucifer's rebellion, which is kind of what the cover implies. Second, while I LOVE having all the liner notes (which include stories from Pastor Bob Beeman and the guys themselves) and lyrics, they are REALLY, REALLY hard to read. The small, faded white letters on the dark background makes them very blurry. The liner notes really need to be a lot brighter and clearer - especially for us old folks. Finally, if for some reason you prefer the original cover art (which admittedly wasn't fantastic) it is very poorly replicated.

I know a lot of love went into this reissue and it does show. It also did its job of making me love this album. Hopefully the art direction can tighten up a little for future releases!

Useless Fact: There have been whispers for years about the band getting back together but so far nothing has come of it yet except the two bonus tracks on this CD.