Sacred Oath

Emerging from Bethel, Connecticut, the metal quartet Sacred Oath fuses a broad spectrum of metal influences into its aggressive style, combining thrash, NWOBHM, and power metal. Rob Thorne and Pete Altieri launched the project in 1985 while both were still enrolled in high school, and they moved swiftly to circulate early recordings, completing a pair of favorably received demos across 1985 and 1986. By 1987 the lineup of Thorne, Altieri, Glen Cruciani, and Kenny Evans had committed to tape the tracks for the band’s first studio album. Issued the next year, Crystal Vision earned lasting recognition as an American power metal cult classic, yet disagreements over artistic direction with Mercenary Records and its parent company Celluloid—which later collapsed—prompted the members to disband soon after the release. Sentinel Records reissued the original LP in 2001, and the group returned in 2005 with a fresh recording of the same material under the title Crystal Revision. Restored to full activity, Sacred Oath delivered Darkness Visible in 2007, the concert document ‘Til Death Do Us Part in 2008, the self-titled Sacred Oath in 2009, World on Fire in 2010, Fallen in 2013, Ravensong in 2015, and Twelve Bells in 2017.