Driven by vocalist and bandleader Akira, Japanese thrash metal legends Sacrifice formed in 1985 in Tokyo. The band released their debut full-length Crest Of Black on Explosion Records in 1987, an album that would go on to become their most iconic and which stands as a cult classic of Japanese metal. Unsurprisingly, Crest Of Black is the lone document of the band that seems to have been discovered by many fans of extreme music outside of Japanese metal circles. Perhaps this is because the band’s subsequent albums – 1990’s Total Steel and 1992’s Tears – were released by Howling Bull exclusively on compact disc, a format that has sadly lost prestige with time. Long remaining a pillar of the Japanese underground metal world, Sacrifice stayed true to their old-school heavy metal sound, never falling prey to some of the more questionable trends that many other classic ’80s Japanese thrash bands partook in as they stumbled their way into the ’90s. Instead, 1992’s Tears saw the band continue to hone their rough, pounding brand of classic thrash metal, delivering an album that stands as a fitting capstone to their initial trilogy of releases. The raw, evil sound of Crest Of Black had found Sacrifice compared to classic heavy metal acts like Venom, and Total Steel showcased a tighter lineup with improved production values; Tears, with those strengths in place, captures the band at full power, pairing their refined musicianship with an unrelenting, dark intensity across some of their most ambitious songs to date amounting to what is perhaps their finest material.