Sacrificial interview - 2025

New Standard Elite has a talent for finding crazy young talent.  Sacrificial is an up-and-coming Brutal Death act out of Milwaukee.  Do not sleep on these dudes.  Music seems to be tight, marketing tight, professionalism stands out.  I mean, what is not to love here?! Oh, and their ages range from 16-18.

Sacrificial, it's an honor to interview you, and I look forward to what is next for you guys!!!! - CR 

Cerebral Reveiwment - Thanks for taking the time for an interview!!!!  Who are we speaking to?

Elijah - Hello! This is Elijah, the drummer for Sacrificial! 

Thank you for reaching out. 

Who are all the members and their roles and their ages?

Sacrificial consists of five members, 

Elijah White, 16 - Drums 

Leo Tulcanaza, 16 - Guitar/ Vocals 

Xavier Rivera, 17 - Bass/ Vocals 

Warren Tynis, 18 - Vocals 

Sebastian Shackleford, 18 - Guitar

Can you tell the origin story of the band?

Sacrificial started in the dining room of Elijah Whites home in December of 2021 under the name Serrated. The band originally consisted of Elijah, Leo Tulcanaza, former vocalist Julius Ortiz, and shortly after, former guitarist Gloria Pabon. At the beginning, Serrated was not sure what genre we wanted to commit to. This changed in May of 2022 when the band moved to Leo’s basement, where we still practice and record to this day. The band was taking a stab at Thrash Metal. In December of 2022 the band changed the name to Sacrificial, Gloria parted ways, and the band recruited Xavier Rivera to bass. This recruitment would eventually lead to the genre shift from thrash metal, to Old School Death Metal. In April of 2023 the band played its first (basement) show, and continued to begin gigging into the summer and fall. In October the band parted ways with Julius shortly after releasing a short groove/ thrash demo (which has now been removed from all platforms). The band, now a 3 piece, started to write new material. In March of 2024, the band met Mylo Roark, who joined the guitar department for just shy of a full year. Shortly after Mylo joined we released another demo, this time consisting of an OSDM sound (and that we also eventually removed from all streaming services). During Mylo’s time in the band we began writing brutal death metal, this is the genre the band knew we must remain as. In July we decided to record one of these “Brutal” songs, Blown Apart with a 10 Gauge. This song was not only our first (and only) single, but also our first brutal song we released. It was also our first time working with a producer, Christofer Swahn of Worship Nothing Studios. In January, 2025 we welcomed Warren Tynis to the lineup. We were writing our most brutal material yet. In March, the band recruited Sebastian Shackleford and parted ways with Mylo. Around this time we finished gathering all the parts for all the songs that will eventually go into our first album, Eternal Suffering. In April the band recorded a 3 song demo and sent it away to Christofer for a mix and master, with plans to send the outcome to our dream label, New Standard Elite. In May we received our final mix and sent it to New Standard Elite. After what felt like years of anticipation we got a reply from the owner… we were signed. On June 4th, 2025 the news was announced, along with the release of our Demos advanced track, Guzzling Condensed Viscera. The remainder of the Demo is to be released shortly (as of June 17th). The band is entirely dedicated to writing the most brutal material that we can manage. We look forward to our future in brutal death metal. 

Damn!! Such a young band achieving such an awesome goal, gaining the support of one of the genre’s leading labels!  Has this lit a fire under your asses?!  How many songs are on the demo?  Can we expect a full length release in 2026?

First of all thank you, second of all most definitely. Getting signed has inspired us to always be our best selves, both musically and personally. In terms of lighting a fire under our asses, I would say it SORT OF did. By the time we got signed we already wrote all of the songs that we want to have appear on our first album. Though now that we are actually signed (we are still excited beyond comprehension) we do definitely have a few tweaks in mind for our songs; we want them to be as brutal as possible. The album should have 11 songs including an intro track, at least that is the plan right now. 3 of these songs will appear on the Demo, and one is already out (go check out Guzzling Condensed Viscera on the NSE YouTube Channel!!!)

 As for an official release date we don’t really have a real answer right now. We are still planning to take a few months to practice the songs and get them as tight as possible before we hit the studio. I’d say expect it either fairly later in 2025 (no promises) or early in 2026. That’s the plan. 

ART BY PILEWORM

LOGO BY JON ZIG

I know the band has already gone through a wide range of sounds and members. Does it finally seem like you are finding your home in brutal death metal?

Brutal Death Metal is 100% the roof we would always like to fall under. After several years as a band, we have never been more comfortable playing a genre than we are with Brutal Death Metal. We’ve tried thrash, osdm, etc, but honestly, I don’t think we would (or will) ever want to return to those genres. Pure Brutal Death Metal is what we strive for, and 100% is where we find our home. 

Can you tell us about some of your favorite bands?  Favorite BDM bands that maybe influence your sound and then also some influences from other genres or just stuff you like?

Our inspirations definitely have a pretty wide range. Everyone in the band listens to different stuff, but we always connect through new (and old) Brutal Death Metal. I could get into the favorites/ biggest influences for everyone in the band, but that would take forever. In general Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, Gorgasm, Disgorge, Defeated Sanity, Stabbing, Severed Savior, Inveracity, Septycal Gorge, and Malignancy are our main (Brutal) influences. When we got signed it actually partially had to do with the fact that NSE thought we sounded like Dying Fetus! We can’t complain about that comparison! As for other (non-metal) genres we really like everything as a group, maybe these favorite bands/ genres can be heard in our playing, maybe not, but here’s a small list: The Beatles, Catch 22 (and ska punk in general) Neoclassical Jazz and just Jazz in general, math rock in general, Prog, etc.  I mean we just have a little bit of The Beatles in our playing right? 

I’m sure we will be hearing more Sacrificial and thank you for answering some questions!  Anything else you’d like to say?

Plan to hear some new Sacrificial very (VERY) soon! We also have some other pretty significant announcements that will be coming out in the next few weeks and months. Definitely keep an eye out for all of that! Thank you Cerebral Reviewment for the amazing questions, and to anyone who may see this… Stay Brutal! 

--------------------LINKS--------------------

Sacrificial

PileWorm Art

Jon Zig

New Standard Elite

Worship Nothing Studios

Full Throttle Booking

Desecation - Left To The Trogs - 2024

 Desecation first caught my attention for being so young while still pumping out such a mature sounding brutal death EP two years ago with self-titled "Desecation", which I briefly talked about HERE.

Since then, just following them on social media and their youtube presence, it is clear that they are young but taking this very serious and being themselves, not trying to change anything about what they bring to the table.  Being original with their sound.  

Also, they are surrounded by and playing shows with legends like Cephalotripsy, Disgorge, Vulnificus, Condemned and many more.

When they started to give previews and glimpses of this new album, I was beyond pumped, and now I get to sit down and listen.

Album artwork by legendary Jon Zig

"Left To The Trogs" opens with a disturbing sample that I recognized from a long time ago.  From a scene that definitely stays with you if you ever saw it.  It is from a Kurt Russell movie about 10 years ago, called "Bone Tomahawk."  A scene in which a man is help down and scalped and then held upside down and hawked in two.  It's just lovely! Check the scene out HERE.

The audio from this scene perfectly sets the tone for the next 20 minutes.  An unforgiving onslaught of raw, original BDM with each element of the music getting its proper showcase.  Production is clear yet perfectly raw. 

Guitars are a delightful mix of fuzzy and crunchy, musicianship is tight and steadily marching to and from heavy slams and catchy riffs.  The riffs seem slightly more technical here than on "Desecation".  Excited to watch how this young band keeps growing and progressing.    

Vocals throughout this album are diverse.  Nasty gargling gutturals with the occasional pig squealing and sometimes your basic death growl.  Every method done with confidence and a gravely delivery that sounds well-honed.   Drummer is crazy, detailed fills with a lot going on under the surface.

I have been paying attention to Desecation since I first found them.  A decent amount of live footage is already on youtube and they have that "thing."  They just feel like the complete package.  Hoping to catch them live soon.  Check out a video of the band performing at Angel Ochoa's (Cephalotripsy) Birthday party:

Most of their live videos show three members, and they are listed as a 3-piece band, but I believe this video is their full band line-up:

Todd Novoa - Guitars

Marc Novoa - Guitars, Vocals

Alex Sisko - Vocals

Nate Gonzalez - Drums, Vocals

Sam Little - Bass

Overall, I am LOVING this new offering from this young, still up-and-coming California band!

Will be spinning this allllll day!!

"Left To The Trogs" will be released January 23rd, 2024 via BrutalMind.

Check out "Inducing Cognitive Paralysis" from the album HERE

Embryonic Devourment - Reptilian Agenda - Deepsend Records - 2013

Artwork by Jon Zig

Lets jump back in time to Cephalic Carnage's prime.  Or maybe to what some may think of as after their prime: an album from 2007 called Xenosapien.  I remember first hearing it and thinking it was a really tiring record.  It was one that took many, many listens to get through to me.  When it finally did, it solidified its place amongst some of my all time favorite albums.  The past week or so, listening to Embryonic Devourment's new album, Reptilian Agenda, I was in a similar predicament.  Maybe I was reminded of that Cephalic Carnage record because it is only every six years or so that I have such profound reactions to works of music.  Reptilian Agenda definitely reminded me of Cephalic Carnage at times, but more so renewed by dying belief in modern death metal.

In so many reviews I talk a lot about the mixing and mastering and the production qualities and the blips and blaps that most people probably don't listen for nor care to read about.  It is refreshing to write about a record that could have probably been recorded with a lot worse production than it was, and it would still stand miles ahead of its peers.  Reptilian Agenda is that album.
At just under twenty-five minutes, I find myself wishing this were longer. I spend the entirety of each listen intensely tuned in, head bobbing along, impatiently waiting for the next song to begin, all the way until the end.  Usually, 'concept albums', or whatever you may call them, are not my thing.  I just think it's too hard to meld together great song writing with great story telling without coming off cheesy. Oddly this album is one that does this extremely well.  The band has done a great job here, considering the subject matter;


"The concept for this album is over the top Just to give you a glimpse, its an album about a Reptilian race from a planet called Nibiru.  This race has been manipulating our systems of power and governing the human race for thousands of years.  This is something we believe in strongly to be true.  Whether it be the reptilian serpents in the bible, the worship of Sobek Ra in ancient egypt, the dragon gods of Japanese history, the giant lizard statues found from ancient mayan/aztec civilizations, or the pyramid of sobek ra on our dollar bill.  We sometimes shapeshift into reptilian gods for our live show even.  We aren't the typical band and we don't have the typical sound.  We aren't gore based or satan based.  We are a conspiracy band focused on the Reptilian Agenda - for we are reptilians by nature.  Does this sound interesting?  Free your mind to other possibilities..."- Austin Spence (Bass, Vocals) 
TAKEN FROM THIS INTERVIEW

So.......yeah, a surprising record to get be back into concept albums.  Perhaps it's the band's claims to truly believe this stuff.  More likely, for me, it's the sheer awesomeness of song-writing and diversity of death metal experienced throughout this half hour.
Not surprisingly, the lyrics are over the top also.  They are not about gore or rape or any brutal-to-be-brutal crap.  They are a good read, about a race that is taking us over and brainwashing us.  So, yes, they are political, but in a revealing way.  The lyrics, like the album, beg multiple reads and an alert yet open mind.
Overall, Reptilian Agenda is an amazing album.  You get diversity in riffs, vocals, and instrumentation.  More importantly, it is an incredibly cohesive story, from beginning to end.  Jon Zig provides beautifully haunting artwork to accompany.  Do yourself a huge favor by buying this one.  You'll get all the magnificent artwork inside, and all the lyrics.

EMBRYONIC DEVOURMENT

JON ZIG

DEEPSEND RECORDS