Special report by Deb Rao

SACRED OATH has long been recognized in the heavy metal underground as one of the pioneers of the American power metal movement that began back in 1985. Their debut album, A Crystal Vision, has become a cult-classic, and established the dark, progressive sound of the band that many have imitated. What some fans don’t know is that Rob Thorne reformed Sacred Oath in 2007, and released Darkness Visible, putting the band back into full active status with a subsequent European tour (including an appearance at Keep It True Festival) and a live album, Till Death Do Us Part, that was featured on iTunes as one of the top live Metal albums of 2008. Sacred Oath has just finished a new studio album called simply Sacred Oath.

iTunes, has chosen the track 'Counting Zeros' by Sacred Oath as their Discovery Download Pick of the week for April 7th. The self-titled worldwide release is due on the streets Friday, May 22nd in Europe, and Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 in North America and other territories.

Sacred Oath singer Rob Thorne has checked in with BraveWords.com correspondent Deb Rao to discuss their upcoming release, Sacred Oath and their hot new song 'Counting Zeros', which is currently streaming on the KnuckleTracks Online Audio Player - head to the left-hand-side of BraveWords.com to launch the player.

Bravewords.com: Let's begin by discussing the upcoming self-titled release Sacred Oath. What are the current release dates?

Thorne: Actually, the release date in Europe has been changed to May 22. It will be released in the US and Canada on May 12th.

Bravewords.com: How you describe the writing process for your upcoming release Sacred Oath? I was listening to it last night and I can hear a lot of old school riffs on it.

Thorne: "Yes, we are old school. We don't set out to write any particular kind of thing. We just do what we do. We have been doing it or twenty years. Much to the surprise of many people. I don't know if you have any of our older records. You can hear that this stuff is right in line with what we have always done. Which is melodic aggressive, traditional style metal. Everybody in the band is very heavily influenced by what was going on in metal in the late 70's and early 80's. Me being a primary writer in the band and being the singer, I think that is why we tend to lean towards the melodic side of things. I am not much like a throat screamer kind of graveler kind of guy. As far as writing this record goes, it is definitely the fastest record that we ever wrote. We had nothing going into the studio September 1 and the whole record was done by mid-December. The band was really active. We had just come off the European tour and put out the live album. We had a couple of ideas and just banged the record out."

Bravewords.com: How do you think that Sacred Oath compares to the band debut album A Crystal Vision?

Thorne: "How do you compare two albums that are twenty years apart? A lot of people don't realize that when we recorded A Crystal Vision, I was like 17 years old. We were kids. I wasn't even out of High School yet. What is amazing is that A Crystal Vision in it's own way has taken on this certain cult classic status. Which is cool, because I think it has got a vibe on it that has always been a part of Sacred Oath. I love the fact that it lives on and that people really like that record. A Crystal Vision is youthful there is not a lot of experience in that record. It is pure adolescent metal energy. I think it really captures what we were trying to do at the time. The new record is just more of a chore. We have been doing this now for 20 years. I think we are better at it. Obviously the production is far superior and we are all better at what we do. As far as execution on our instruments. I think I am a better singer now. I love both albums. "

Bravewords.com: What does the title of the album Sacred Oath denote to you?

Thorne: "I think with the reason success that we had and with all the promotion that this album seems to be getting. For many people we are a brand new band. In a sense, there is a re-birth of that. We just felt it was fitting to call the record Sacred Oath. We have been underground for a long time doing what we do. We got our loyal fans that have been following us from day one. So I think that we are going to be exposed to a much larger audience this time around. This really a re-birth for us in a sense. We are going to be a brand new baby for a lot of people. Sacred Oath is all about energy. I produced the album. My criteria all revolves around the energy. Sacred Oath image wise is like an engine coming at you. Not that it is like the heaviest thing that you ever heard because it is not. But there is an energy that falls out full speed ahead at you. If that doesn’t get captured on the recording then we run another take. Most of the time, everything gets done in one or two takes. Kids today are rediscovering the melodic side of metal. Which to me is what metal has always been about. Metal for me has never been about one emotion that being anger and hatred. That had pretty much taken over mainstream metal. Everything that you listen to nowadays is just pure aggressive anger. We are just about more the full range of what people are. There is melody, triumph, glory, and power. There is a whole range of emotions in metal. "

Bravewords.com: Sacred Oath has just filmed the video for your latest single, 'Counting Zeros'. What were some of the highlights of this event?

Thorne: "Well, it was very cold. (Laughter) We are in the New York City area. We are in Connecticut and we filmed it in the middle of February. It was shot outside because we needed to be on location. We were in an unheated warehouse for about six hours. The rest of the time we were outside. It was a 14-degree wind-chill. It was a long day. But it was awesome because it was successful. When you are doing what you love to do, how can you complain? The location worked out great. The song is really about all the things that are going on worldwide. It is about the economic crisis, the wars that we are in. Greed, power, the people that are manipulating these situations and profiting off of them. That is why it is called 'Counting Zeros'. We found a great location. We had a military museum very close to us that has all these awesome antique tanks. They let us use the tanks for the video. They even fired these babies off. The place was very cool. It was kind of neat to be able to get something like this into the video, which is not something that you see everyday like World War 2 tanks in action".

Bravewords.com: Tell us about the upcoming iTunes Discovery Pick Of The Week during the week of April 7th, 2009.

Thorne: "We have a big Exclusive coming with iTunes in April. It is the whole album. We are waiting to see what kind of noise that makes. Because it will have an impact on where we are going to be touring and at what level. iTunes has chosen and this is like a God sent to us. They told us that they want to feature the album and they chose "Counting Zeros" as the Discovery Download of the Week of April 7th. It is awesome because it is a minimum download of 300,000. They are going to have an Exclusive pre-release of the ten songs jewel case version of the album for an entire month April 7th - May 12th. They will have an Exclusive on the album iTunes only ten-song version. It is discounted to $5.99. That is a big deal for us and help us make a better choice as what we are going to be doing for touring."

Rob Thorne exclusively breaks down Sacred Oath track-by-track:

'Paradise Lost' - "Right now this is one of my favourites. It was in the top three, as far as the first tracks that I put together for the record. It is real classic old school Sacred Oath. It has a progressive high soaring vocal. You got that cool intro with me doing a little Tibet chanting there."

'Blood Storm'- "We got a feature going out on that song with Rhapsody. That is going to be the second single for the record. It is definitely one of the best songs on the record."

'Voodoo Dolls'- "Is another one that grows on you very quickly. It is super catchy and crazy solo section in the middle. It is so much fun to play. It is classic metal in every sense."

'Counting Zeros' - 'Counting Zeros' is definitely my favourite song on the record. Lyrically sums up the whole concept of the record and the mission that we are on. It is about this crazy world that we are living in. You sort of find truth in the middle of all this chaos. It is a melodic song. It was the first song that we wrote for the record. In my mind, I am very proud of that song."

'High And Mighty' - "It is a different kind of song for Sacred Oath. That one is probably one of the songs that stand out, as it is somewhat in a new direction for us. Not because of any conscience effort, it just came out that way. Very catchy and very cool. But definitely a new sound for us."

'Sacred Oath' - "Another pure Sacred Oath song pure and melodic. Cool riffs that are fun to play. Classic."

'Caught In The Arc'- That has been a surprise favourite with the early reviewers. It is an old school thrasher. I can tell you that it is part of our live set for the upcoming tour."

'Buried Alive' - It is melodic and has a Merciful Fate kind of feel.

'What The Dark Will Undo' - "I feel strongly that the melodic metal ballad needs to be represented on at least what we do on a metal record. Because it is not all about death, anger and hatred. That song is very melodic. It is like prophecy. It is just another side of the band that I needed to express. It is not all slow, it picks up. It maintains the same exact vocal melody and it is kind of neat how it flip flops."

'Hunt For The Fallen Angel' - "That is our drummers favourite. Kenny gets to do his Kenny thing to the extreme. That is another one that we are putting into the live set. It is probably one of the most difficult songs to do live. It is like an Olympic event. That song is pure Sacred Oath in the old sense."