There are at least three artists by this name:
1) A stenchcore / thrash … Read Full Bio ↴There are at least three artists by this name:
1) A stenchcore / thrash metal band from England.
2) An old school melodic death metal band from Sweden.
3) A doom Metal band from Italy.

1) The British Sacrilege was a female-fronted metal band from the Midlands region of England. Despite having played relatively few gigs during their existence, Sacrilege is today recognised as an important band, both as an influence on later and doom metal bands and as an example of the blending of hardcore punk, radical politics, and heavy metal that occurred during the 1980s, making Sacrilege one of the prototypical bands of the time.

Prior to the formation of Sacrilege, guitarist Damian Thompson,drummer Andy Baker released a pair of hardcore punk demos under the moniker Warwound. In 1983, the duo joined the Varukers, Damian left the Varukers in 1984 to form Sacrilege. In 1984 and '85, the band recorded demos and contributed tracks to the compilations "We Won't Be Your Fucking Poor" (Mortarhate, 1985) and "Anglican Scrape Attic" (a pre-Earache release from Digby Pearson)

After replacing drummer Liam Pickering with Andy Baker, Sacrilege recorded their first album, "Behind the Realms of Madness", in 1985, which was released through the Bristol-based label Children of the Revolution Records. The album was moderately successful, selling a respectable 7000 copies. Shortly after this, the band brought in former Warhammer member Mitch Dickinson on second guitar, although he never played live with the band and he soon left to join hardcore punk group Heresy and later Unseen Terror.

Their second release, "within the prophecy", was recorded in January 1987 at Birmingham's Rich Bitch Studios with Rob Bruce and producer Mike Ivory. It was released later that year through Under One Flag Records, a subsidiary of Music for Nations. Sacrilege underwent a significant line-up change at this juncture, replacing drummer Andy Baker with Paul Brookes, bassist Tony May with Paul Morrisey and adding rhythm guitarist Frank Healey. After a further change, this time replacing Paul Brookes with new drummer Spikey T. Smith, the new line-up recorded the band's third album, "Turn Back Trilobite", issued in April 1989. This record saw the band moving away from their thrash metal roots into a more doom metal musical direction, with touches of folk. Sacrilege split up quietly in the early 1990s.

After Sacrilege, Frank Healy and Andy Baker would go on to join Cerebral Fix, with Healy later joining Benediction and Baker also playing in an early incarnation of Cathedral. Paul Brookes would also join Benediction and then metal act Marshall Law in 1999.

Cerebral Fix covered Sacrilege's "The Closing Irony" on their 1990 album "Tower of Spite", suitably using it as the final track and making a slight name alteration, "Closing Irony".

Sacrilege's first two albums were re-released unofficially through Blackend Records in 1996.

Re-formed in 2014 with the same last line-up of Lynda 'Tam' Simpson-Vocals/Damian Thompson-Guitar/ Frank Healy-Bass/Spike T Smith-Drums. Re-Release of Behind the Realms of Madness due Summer (on Relapse Records) 2015 to mark the albums 30th anniversary. Bonus tracks of new and previouslt unheard material will be included. The band are also working on an album of all new material. More information and taster tracks can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sacrilege-Official/503256849820198

2) The Swedish Sacrilege, now known as Sacrilege GBG, is an old school melodic death metal band from Sweden, formed in 1993by Daniel Svensson (vocals, drums) and Daniel Dinsdale (guitar).

After having sacked and replaced some members, the band ended up recording their first demo, “To Where Light Can´t Reach” in early 1995. Shortly after, the band entered Studio Fredman to record their second demo called “…and Autumn Failed”. It was highly appreciated by many, especially by Black Sun, who got interested in the so far unknown band.

As Sacrilege reached the semi-final as the first death metal band ever in the Gothenburg rock competition “Rockslaget”, Black Sun decided to sign the band. In the summer of 1996 they recorded their full-length debut “Lost In The Beauty You Slay” in Studio Fredman. The album was released in October the same year. “Lost in the beauty you slay” gained Sacrilege many fans around the world with their great songs and beautiful melodies mixed with sheer brutality. An extra touch was added by Daniel Svensson's extremely dark and high vocal style.

A year later Sacrilege had grown both as songwriters and musicians and in July 1997 they recorded their second album, “The Fifth Season”, a far more technical, heavy, brutal, faster and better album. Once again Sacrilege received great reviews all over the world. In January, Sacrilege went on a German tour together with The Crown. On this tour, Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates fame did the vocals for the band, as Daniel Svensson had some difficulties with both singing and playing drums at the same time.

Shortly after the tour, Daniel Svensson helped In Flames’ songwriter/guitarist Jesper Strömblad by doing vocals for a song Jesper recorded with his project Dimension Zero. This contact led to Svensson being offered to play the drums for In Flames. Svensson accepted. This, of course, was a great setback for Sacrilege, since they now had to find both a drummer and a singer. After more than year of searching, the band decided to quit, being unable to find valid replacements. So, this was the end of one of the most respected melodic death metal bands in the underground scene. Or was it really?

The band reformed under the name of "Sacrilege GBG" in 2006. They are currently working on new Sacrilege material for an upcoming third studio album which will feature the original line-up with Daniel Svensson, Daniel Dinsdale, Richard Bergholtz and Daniel Kvist.

The band’s statement: “No release date is set yet and there’s no way in hell we’ll stress this third release. But know this, we are working night and day on these new songs. Keep your eyes and ears open.”.

3) In 1987 an obscure Italian Doom Metal band released the demo-tape simply called "Demo". The line-up consisted in vocalist Luca Gorna, guitarist Nicola Murari and drummer Mauro Tollini. The two last aforementioned members had connections to Italian bands, 80s Horror maniacs Black Hole and Epitaph formed in the 90s.

At Death's Door
Sacrilege Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The new day is dawning they start counting the dead,
The hard swollen bellies of the children not fed,
Their land dry and parched still they pray for the rain,
The massacre continous yet again and again.
Year after year the lands ring deaths bell,
The childrens blind eyes have a sad tale to tell,
Their limbs bent and twisted, their kinds hold no spark,
They're crying in vain for no light breaks the dark.

The land holds the hammer but mankind deals the blow,
Economics and pro
Fit before compassion we show,
Our excesses waste as the wealthy grow fat,

Rather than give to the needy they'll let the food rot.
At death door they stand, only suffering they know

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Sacrilege's song "At Death's Door" speak to the horrors of famine in impoverished nations. The opening lines set the tone for the bleak subject matter as the singer describes a new day dawning where people begin counting the dead. The focus then shifts to the children, who are suffering from malnourishment - their "hard swollen bellies" a grotesque symbol of their pain. The people of this land are deeply religious - as evidenced by their prayers for rain - but even their faith cannot save them from the massacre that continually ravages their home. The second verse paints a similarly dismal picture. The phrase "year after year the lands ring deaths bell" is particularly striking - it perpetuates the idea that this population is in a constant state of mourning. The children are depicted as physically deformed and have "blinded eyes," emphasizing both the physical and psychological damage that is incurred from long-term malnutrition. The lyrics then criticize the outside world for its callousness towards those who are suffering. The line "Economics and profit before compassion we show" refers to the notion that people in tribal, war-torn, and poverty-stricken countries are stuck in this situation because no one cares enough to help them. The final line - "At death's door they stand, only suffering they know" - is a chilling assessment of the state of these oppressed people.

Overall, in "At Death's Door," Sacrilege aimed to denounce not only the conditions that lead to famines but also the vicissitudes of wastefulness and inattention that allow famine to occur. After all, the song mourns the loss of human life, the negligence that caused that loss, and the lack of action in mitigating the root causes of famine. Moreover, the song seems to argue that the world has turned a blind eye to this suffering, especially in the first world, and that the oppressors, far beyond being those who outright harm others, are those who merely neglect to act in the face of preventable disaster.

Line by Line Meaning

The new day is dawning they start counting the dead,
As the sun rises, the people begin counting the number of dead bodies who have succumbed to the devastating consequences of poverty and famine.

The hard swollen bellies of the children not fed,
The children's bellies are swollen due to malnutrition and hunger, caused by the lack of food and resources available to them.

Their land dry and parched still they pray for the rain,
Despite the dry and barren land, the people continue to pray for rain and a miracle, hoping that it will transform their situation and bring them relief.

The massacre continous yet again and again.
The cycle of violence and death continues without any end in sight, as people suffer and die due to the poor conditions of their lives.

Year after year the lands ring deaths bell,
The land is constantly gripped by death and despair, with each passing year ushering in more suffering and hardship.

The childrens blind eyes have a sad tale to tell,
The eyes of the children are blank and emotionless, as they have seen and experienced so much suffering and tragedy that they have lost their spark of life.

Their limbs bent and twisted, their kinds hold no spark,
The bodies of the children are twisted and deformed from malnourishment and sickness, while their spirits are broken and devoid of hope.

They're crying in vain for no light breaks the dark.
The people cry out for help, but there seems to be no end to the darkness and hopelessness that surrounds them.

The land holds the hammer but mankind deals the blow,
Nature provides the environment and resources for the people, but human greed and negligence causes destruction and suffering.

Economics and profit before compassion we show,
People prioritize money and profit over basic human compassion and empathy, leading to a lack of support and resources for those in need.

Our excesses waste as the wealthy grow fat,
The rich continue to indulge in excess and waste, while the poor suffer and go hungry, creating a stark divide between the haves and have-nots.

Rather than give to the needy they'll let the food rot.
Those with resources and wealth would rather let their excess go to waste than share it with those who are struggling to survive.

At death door they stand, only suffering they know
The people live every day on the brink of death and suffering, with no end in sight to their pain and hardship.

Contributed by Christian T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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