SACRED REICH bassist and vocalist Phil Rind has revealed that guitarist Joey Radziwill wrote almost the entire new album — and framed it as the reason the record sounds the way it does.
Speaking to Metal & Rock Zone, Rind was asked about "Into The Abyss", the Arizona thrash veterans' first album since 2019's "Awakening", due via Metal Blade Records. His answer took the credit away from himself without hesitation.
"Joey wrote 10 out of the 11 songs," Rind said. Then he explained why that matters. "We were talking earlier, you can't go back to how it was. When older bands like us try to say, 'We're gonna try to capture the early-record stuff,' you just can't. You're not that person anymore. Well, Joey's still in his 20s. So Joey fucking captured it and crushed it. And I think fans of SACRED REICH are gonna be, like, 'What?' Yeah, fast, heavy… I was, like, 'Wow, man. Wow. Fucking impressive.'"
It is an unusually clear-eyed thing for a founding member to say out loud. Bands of SACRED REICH's vintage routinely promise a return to the early sound; Rind's position is that the only way to actually get it is to let someone who is still that age write it. Radziwill joined the band in 2019.
The album also closes a chapter behind the kit. Dave McClain played on it before departing last autumn, and Rind is unambiguous about the performance: "And Dave, that was his last record with us. He played his ass off. And when we heard those songs, we were, like, 'We need to step up,' 'cause Joey wrote some serious shit."
McClain's history with the band runs long — an original member from 1991 to 1995, playing on the "A Question" EP, "Independent" and "Heal" before leaving for MACHINE HEAD, then rejoining in December 2018. He announced in October 2025 that he had "decided to move on". His replacement is Brazilian drummer Eduardo Baldo, previously of Los Angeles band RED DEVIL VORTEX, who first sat in for SACRED REICH's November 2025 European dates with HATEBREED and was made official that December. "Our new drummer Eduardo Baldo is a beast!" Rind said. "Can't wait for you to see him."
"Into The Abyss" was recorded at The Focusrite Room in Mesa, Arizona, engineered and co-produced by John Aquilino alongside the band, and mixed by Bill Metoyer.
The one thing Rind could not offer was a date. The band had hoped for August or September this year. "That didn't work out," he said. "So, yeah, next year." No firmer than that — but by his account, worth the wait: "It's gonna be great. I think people will like it."
We gave the album's build-up plenty of room in early August, when Rind described the record as much faster and heavier than "Awakening", and its title as a reflection of the dark stretch the band came through since 2019.