Formation and first four albums Friends and guitarists Rob Urbinati and Joe Rico decided to form a metal band in 1983, playing
cover versions of some of their favourite songs. They recruited Rico's friend Scott Watts to play bass, and Andrew Banks on drums, who was replaced by Craig Boyle. Singer John Baldi, a friend of Boyle's, also joined the band. Together they recorded a pair of rehearsal tapes — featuring their first original song "Turn in Your Grave", along with a variety of covers of songs by bands such as
Black Sabbath,
Metallica, and
Judas Priest. Although the band faced numerous line-up changes, especially in their early days, founding guitarists Urbinati and Rico and bassist Scott Watts recorded every studio album and demo and drummer Gus Pynn played on everything but the
Apocalypse Inside demo and CD.
Reunion In 2006, the band reunited and performed in Toronto at the 'Day of the Equinox II' festival, Also in August 2006, they released a compilation,
198666, and it has the three demo's and live track's from early years. In 2008, they entered Rouge Valley Studio in Toronto to record the album
The Ones I Condemn, released on July 6, 2009, by Marquee Records from Brazil. In late 2010, Sacrifice teamed up with punk rock band
Propagandhi to release a 7-inch single where both bands perform cover tunes. Propagandi covered
Corrosion of Conformity's hardcore/metal crossover "Technocracy" and Sacrifice covered
Rush's "Anthem". The cover of "Anthem" was included as a bonus track on the Canadian issue of
The Ones I Condemn. On April 29, 2011, Sacrifice finally made it across the Atlantic to play their first show on European soil in Germany at the Keep It True Festival. In February 2012, Sacrifice crossed the Pacific to play in
Osaka, Japan, headlining the two-day True Thrash Festival. Sacrifice also played shows in western Canada. The original and current line-up played April 17, 2015, in Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre and on April 18, 2015, in the Manitoba Metalfest at The Park Theatre in Winnipeg. Sacrifice headlined the 20th anniversary show of Inertia Entertainment on February 27, 2016, at The Opera House in Toronto. By 2016, Sacrifice had been working on new material for the follow-up to
The Ones I Condemn. There had been no news about new music from the band until December 2020, when they released a demo version of their first song in over a decade on YouTube, titled "World War V", which is expected to appear on the band's upcoming sixth studio album. Progress on the album had continued to be slow by April 2022, when bassist Scott Watts said on Facebook, "I guarantee you that we don't have a label, so there is no rush to record." Drummer Gus Pynn posted an update on the album in August 2023 on Sacrifice's Facebook page, saying they were at their "last practice" preparing new material and suggesting a release date of 2024. Work on the album was finished in April 2024, and a month later, guitarist and vocalist Rob Urbinati revealed
Volume Six as its working title and it was announced that it would be released later in 2024 or 2025.
Volume Six was later confirmed to be the album's official title, and it was released on February 21, 2025. == Legacy and influence ==