Sacred Surf

Growing up with thrash metal through my teens, it really helped to set the foundation for a lot of my core beliefs. While there were certainly those bands that focused on more fantastic themes of violence and satan, there were also a large number of bands that were more grounded in reality... pushing back on expected norms with more progressive lyrics around questioning authority and social justice issues, such as environmental concerns, attacking big business, class and race issues, as well as general vibes about a more peaceful world. For every Slayer that was screaming "Do you want to die" there was a Nuclear Assault and Testament singing about handling the earth with care and the greenhouse effect... and while I loved the satanic stuff, the songs that called out real world problems had the most impact on me.

One of those bands that was big for me in the late 80's was Sacred Reich. Their lyrics on Ignorance, especially Administrative Decisions, hit me hard, and I remember a video clip of them on Hard n' Heavy where they said they hated George Bush, and I was just like "fuck yes" this band gets it. As a young kid, they just seemed so smart and wanting to make a positive impact on the world around them. Honestly, stuff like that was a huge influence to my jump over to hardcore and punk around 1990.

Anyway, yeah, Sacred Reich were a huge band for me, and I clearly remember listing to their Surf Nicaragua tape in my car a lot on the drive to college or between classes. With a song about the problem of US intervention in Central America and One Nation fighting against prejudice and bigotry, it just seemed important. We need more bands like this in 2026.

I've been wanting to pick up the vinyl for this EP for a long time now, so I was very happy to grab it from Tim's collection.