Dragon-Sacrifice

Metal Mind
1994/2008

Following "Scream of Death" Dragon decided to end their partnership with MMP. They felt that they had achieved everything we could while working with them. However,cancelling unfulfilled recording contracts brings about some harsh consequences. For two years the band was unable to release their new material. They also lacked live performances and during the whole year of 1992 they played only 5 shows. The band's fourth full-length album "Sacrifice" was mostly written in 1991 and 1992, but it would be two more years until it was recorded and even then it was initially released on cassette only. Dragon were certainly not the luckiest band in the world with their numerous line-up changes and label problems. However despite all of those problems and the long wait "Sacrifice" is probably their most ambitious and probably even their tightest album. It's less ferocious than the previous albums, but far more stylish and technically more adventurous. I do get a sense of it being a bit front heavy as the strongest and heaviest tracks happen early on and the mid-tempo entries finish out most of the second half of the album. That doesn't take away from the ideas that went into this release though. The band obviously had a vision for this album and they released in fine form despite it being against popular death/thrash trends of the time. Although I definitely think that "Sacrifice" would have gotten far more attention had it been released when it was written back around 1992. This re-issue includes one bonus track and a lyric booklet. I definitely find this to be the band's most interesting album and it's one where I may continue to find more parts of it that I enjoy. It's just a shame that the road wasn't smoother for Dragon because their career may have been even longer had they had made different decisions and had some breaks.