SACRED REICH To Begin Recording New Album In 2023

In a new interview with Ireland's Overdrive, SACRED REICH frontman Phil Rind was asked if he and his bandmates have commenced work on material for the follow-up to 2019's "Awakening" album. He responded: "We probably have four to five to nine new songs in the works, and we actually were looking into booking a studio to record, but things didn't work out that way. We're excited to finish up [our European] tour [with SEPULTURA], and then I'm guessing that in 2023 we'll eventually get back into the studio and start recording a new album."

Rind went on to say that the material that has so far been written for SACRED REICH's upcoming LP is not yet ready to be performed live. "At the moment, they are just demos and ideas," he explained. "It's far too early to let anyone hear them, especially on this tour. We need to do a lot more work on them before we get to that point."

Phil also talked about the overwhelmingly positive response to "Awakening", which marked SACRED REICH's first LP in 23 years.

"It's interesting because being in a band, playing the old stuff night after night, that's fine, but being able to bring in new material that slots in so nicely alongside the older tunes… well, that really gave us a shot of adrenaline," he said. "Since then, we've become more of a forward-thinking band. We have new stuff to play, and as the tour grew, it was really fascinating to see the music grow with the audience night after night. That was a real eye-opener for us, and it also felt really good. That was back in 2019 when we went out as headliners for a bunch of U.K./European shows. Having our new material make that connection with people, that was just insane to see. I'd not experienced that feeling in decades prior to that tour. That whole tour really changed our focus as a band."

"Awakening" was released in August 2019 via Metal Blade Records. The LP was produced by Arthur Rizk, who has previously worked with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, POWER TRIP and CODE ORANGE, among others. The album marked SACRED REICH's first release since the return of drummer Dave McClain.

"Awakening" was described in a press release as "a timeless collection comprised of blistering thrash, crushing grooves, killer solos and socially conscious lyrics that demonstrate a true understanding of everything that matters most in the world today."

"Awakening" was engineered by John Aquilino and was mastered by Maor Appelbaum.

In 2019, SACRED REICH guitarist and founding member Jason Rainey exited the band for "health reasons" and was replaced by Joey Radziwill. Rainey died in March 2020 of an apparent heart attack.