Not all metal is dark

Kenny Krenzin was flipping through TV channels one day when a strange music he’d never heard before caught his attention.

It was at the beginning of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Last Action Hero,” which Krenzin watc

hed all the way through so he could see the credits for the song.

The song was “Angry Again” by Megadeth and it marked the beginning of Ocean View High School graduate Krenzin’s love affair with metal music.

“Something about that song was completely different than anything I ever heard,” Krenzin said. He picked up the guitar and never looked back.

Krenzin’s band, Sacred Storm, is making a name for itself in the metal world in Orange County and Los Angeles. Sacred Storm took the prize for Best Metal Group at the All Access Music Awards Nov. 4.

“It feels good to be recognized for your efforts,” Krenzin said.

The band consists of Huntington Beach guitarist/singer Krenzin, Anaheim drummer lux and Gardena guitarist Dave Maciel. They are on the hunt for a new bass player.

How do you describe Sacred Storm? Well, they pretty much shred.

Maciel, 26, is a music theory junkie who is studying for a doctorate in music. With his uber-metal Ibanez guitar he forms tight melodies and beautiful displays of harmonics. The band plays well-orchestrated harmonies between the two guitars.

While his fingers fly over frets, Krenzin, 21, also lends a deep raspy voice to the overtures. Of course the backbone of it is lux, whose stilettoed staccato of beats keeps the band together. Her double bass drums and machine-like precision earned her a nod at the All Access awards as Best Female Drummer.

“I’m kind of breaking those stereotypes of girls not rocking,” lux says.

The band released its first album, “Man Versus Machine,” earlier this year and went on a brief West Coast tour. Seeing people who didn’t even know who they were get inspired by Sacred Storm music was a gratifying experience for the band. The crowds in Oregon and Washington head-banged and moshed to the music like the band members were local favorites.

In Grant’s Pass, Ore., a dog named Snoopy joined in the mosh pit.

Sacred Storm is now putting together new material for a second album and getting ready to audition bass players.

The music is thoughtfully put together. Surprisingly, it’s much like classical music in the way it’s composed.

“Metal is essentially a combination of classical chord progressions,” Maciel says. “If you play it on violin it’s classical, if you play it on guitar it’s metal.”

Krenzin is quick to point out that it also needs that certain “crunch.”

Despite the sinister reputation metal has, Sacred Storm aims to do something positive with the genre. The band writes clean lyrics and shuns much of the dark nature of metal. “[Metal’s] gotten so arbitrarily aggressive,” Maciel said.

While the music is loud and heavy, there is no mean spirit to it. Krenzin sports a toothy grin while he tears up his classic Jackson King V guitar.

Lux is an active church member. Maciel is a worship pastor at a church in Gardena. Krenzin plays in the worship band and volunteers in the youth ministry at First Christian Church of Huntington Beach.

“I want to play metal and send a message that we don’t worship the devil,” Krenzin says. “We’re about playing this music because it’s fun.”

To check out the metal of Sacred Storm, visit www.sacredstorm.net or www.myspace.com/sacredstorm. The CD is available for $10.