Sacrifice is a 1994 album by Gary Numan

Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

. Its release followed a self-acknowledged career low point, Machine + Soul (1992), and is often cited as marking the start of a critical and artistic rejuvenation for the one-time pop star. The album was released in the US in 1997 with a different cover by Joseph Michael Linsner

Joseph Michael Linsner

Joseph Michael Linsner is an American comic book writer-artist-colorist best known for his mature-audiences supernatural character Dawn, who first appeared in Cry for Dawn #1 , self-published by his Cry for Dawn Productions....

, and a new title, Dawn

Dawn (comics)

Dawn is a fictional character created by comic book artist Joseph Michael Linsner. She first appeared on the cover of Cry for Dawn #1 before featuring in her own one shot Drama from the new publisher Sirius Entertainment and then the miniseries Dawn: Lucifer's Halo, Dawn: Return of the Goddess,...

, based on the comic book character of the same name, but the track listing was identical.

On Sacrifice, paraphernalia which Numan had previously, by his own admission, relied upon in a bid to make his music more 'radio-friendly', such as saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 solos, dance rhythms and female backing vocals, were dropped in favour of a back-to-basics approach that saw him playing practically all instruments himself. The result was a dirty industrial

Industrial music

Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...

 sound with darkwave

Darkwave

Dark Wave or darkwave is a music genre that began in the late 1970s, coinciding with the popularity of New Wave and post-punk. Building on those basic principles, dark wave added dark, introspective lyrics and an undertone of sorrow for some bands...

 undertones; a departure from preceding albums that was seen by many critics and fans as a return to the best features of his classic early work: brooding synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

s, distorted guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

s and a highly personal lyrical perspective.

The album actually started off as a project entitled "Vicious" various tracks were worked on with previous Machine + Soul

Machine + Soul

Machine and Soul is the 14th studio album, and 11th under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1992. It is known for being a career low-point for Numan, released primarily in an attempt to pay off the artist's debts during the commercial nadir of his career...

 Producer Kipper, amongst others, Numan wasn't quite happy with the direction, and it was whilst he was considering signing to another label they suggested he record vocals to a recently released soundtrack for The Radial Pair, Numan eventually never signed to the label but instead adopted these tracks along with others which eventually became "Sacrifice" after hearing Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...

 album Songs of Faith and Devotion

Songs of Faith and Devotion

Songs of Faith and Devotion is the eighth album by the British electronic music group Depeche Mode, released in 1993 on Mute Records. The album incorporated more guitar textures than previous releases. Upon its release, Songs of Faith and Devotion reached number one in both the UK and US album...

 and decided this was the musical direction he wanted to take. "Play Like God", and the demo "Metal Beat" were dropped from the album (the latter appeared on later re-releases in 1998 and 1999).

A number of tracks displayed an antipathy towards religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, a stance that had been noted in isolated songs from early in Numan’s career but which became more pronounced on this album and its successors, Exile

Exile (Gary Numan album)

Exile is a 1997 album by Gary Numan. Its release continued a surprise critical upswing in Numan's career which began three years earlier with the release of Sacrifice....

(1997) and Pure

Pure (Gary Numan album)

Pure is a 2000 album by Gary Numan, the follow-up to 1997's Exile.-Music and lyrics:Lyrically, Pure was seen as continuing the composer’s attacks on Christian dogma but in a somewhat more personal fashion than on Exile. Many critics considered it Numan’s most aggressive album musically, with its...

(2000). The single released from the album, "A Question of Faith", appeared to cast the singer as a fallen angel

Fallen angel

Fallen angel is a concept developed in Jewish mythology from interpretation of the Book of Enoch. The actual term fallen angel is not found in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of...

 ("I dare you to judge me / Now God has disowned me"), a theme that would dominate Exile, before concluding: "They kneel down / Praise God / Shout Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Halleluyah, and the Latin form Alleluia are transliterations of the Hebrew word meaning "Praise Yah". The last syllable is from the first two letters of the name of God, YHWH, written JHVH in Latin). Hallelujah is found primarily in the book of Psalms...

 ... When children kill children / Don’t it make them wonder? / Don’t it make them question their faith?"; the reference "...when children kill children..." was made about the then-recent murder of James Bulger

James Bulger

James Bulger may refer to:* James Patrick Bulger, toddler murdered by two ten-year-old boys in Liverpool, England, in 1993* James J. "Whitey" Bulger, alleged American gang leader...

. Numan later stated that whilst Exile was a fictional story, "Sacrifice looks at my actual beliefs".

Amongst the other tracks on the album, "Magic" was inspired partly by Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

; "Bleed" and "Deadliner" reflected a fear of sleep and of nightmares becoming real, the latter song taking its inspiration from a dream that Numan once had and featuring semi-spoken verses; "You Walk in My Soul" was an ode to his future wife Gemma O’Neill; "Love and Napalm" was a guitar-driven number whose distinctive riff recalled the early days of Tubeway Army

Tubeway Army

Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...

.

In a 2000 interview, Numan described his approach to the recording. Prior to Sacrifice, "I spent quite a few years just trying to write songs that would get me back on the radio". For the new album, "I just went right back to the way I was when I was a teenager, first time writing songs, with all the enthusiasm for it". The resultant music, whilst not a commercial success, garnered Numan his best notices in years and coincided with the beginnings of a critical reassessment of his career and acknowledgment of his influence on such artists as Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

, Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...

, Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson (band)

Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...

, The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields is the principal creative outlet of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt...

, The Prodigy

The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...

 and Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...

.

An 'Extended' version of Sacrifice, approximately half as long again as the original, was released in 1995. The same year, most of the tracks appeared on Dark Light, Numan’s live recording from the Sacrifice tour.

In 1999 the album was reissued with bonus tracks in the UK (Eagle Records) and US (Cleopatra Records). Like with other reissues of albums originally released on Numa Records, the US version had a somewhat different selection of bonus tracks as well as altered artwork.

1994 Numa CD release (NUMACD 1011)

1. "Pray" – 3:55
2. "Deadliner" – 4:29
3. "A Question of Faith" – 4:52
4. "Desire" – 3:47
5. "Scar" – 3:25
6. "Love and Napalm" – 5:08
7. "You Walk in My Soul" – 4:39
8. "Magic" – 4:42
9. "Bleed" – 6:10
10. "The Seed of a Lie" – 5:25

1994 Numa 'Extended' CD release (NUMACDX 1011)

1. "Pray" – 5:57
2. "Deadliner" – 8:45
3. "A Question of Faith" – 8:43
4. "Desire" – 5:33
5. "Scar" – 5:25
6. "Love and Napalm" – 8:26
7. "You Walk in My Soul" – 6:54
8. "Magic" – 6:29
9. "Bleed" – 7:41
10. "The Seed of a Lie" – 7:07

1999 Cleopatra U.S. CD reissue (CLP 0336-2)

1. "Pray" – 3:55
2. "Deadliner" – 4:29
3. "A Question of Faith" – 4:52
4. "Desire" – 3:47
5. "Scar" – 3:25
6. "Love and Napalm" – 5:08
7. "You Walk in My Soul" – 4:39
8. "Magic" – 4:42
9. "Bleed" – 6:10
10. "The Seed of a Lie" – 5:25
11. "A Question of Faith (Extended)" - 8:43
12. "Love and Napalm (Extended)" - 8:26
13. "Metal Beat" - 3:10 (*)
14. "Play Like God" - 7:01

1999 Eagle Records UK CD reissue (EAMCD076)

1. "Pray" – 3:55
2. "Deadliner" – 4:29
3. "A Question of Faith" – 4:52
4. "Desire" – 3:47
5. "Scar" – 3:25
6. "Love And Napalm" – 5:08
7. "You Walk in My Soul" – 4:39
8. "Magic" – 4:42
9. "Bleed" – 6:10
10. "The Seed of a Lie" – 5:25
11. "Play Like God" - 7:01
12. "Whisper of Truth" - 4:21
13. "Metal Beat" - 3:10 (*)
14. "Absolution" - 4:37

Musicians

• Gary Numan: All Instruments and Vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Kipper: Additional Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   on "Scar", Synth Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  on "Love and Napalm"
• T.J. Davies: Backing Vocals on "Scar"