| The American Way | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Sacred Reich |
| Cover: | sr_americanway.jpg |
| Released: | May 15, 1990 |
| Recorded: | 1989–1990 |
| Studio: | Cornerstone Recorders Track Records California, U.S. |
| Genre: | Thrash metal |
| Length: | 35:45 |
| Label: | Metal Blade |
| Producer: | Bill Metoyer, Sacred Reich |
| Prev Title: | Alive at the Dynamo |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | A Question |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
The American Way is the second studio album by American thrash metal band Sacred Reich, released on May 15, 1990 via Metal Blade Records. The video for "The American Way" was used in the 1992 film Encino Man. The album debuted at No. 153 on September 1, 1990 on the Billboard 200 charts, lasting for nine weeks.[1] An enhanced remastered version released in 2009 contains pre-production demo recordings and a free patch. A second remastered version released that year contains the same songs plus "The American Way" promo video CD-ROM. The American Way is also Sacred Reich's final full-length studio album with drummer Greg Hall, who left the band in 1991.
Although the band had maintained a record of at least one release per year since their debut, Ignorance, this was their first full-length album for three years and also the first to show a musical progression from the all-out thrash metal which dominated their earlier material. Phil Rind, in the liner notes, explains the band's change in musical direction thus:
"Musically, we've tried to expand our horizons without forgetting our roots. Some people will appreciate the changes. Others, let's just say, they'd be satisfied with 'Ignorance II'"The last track "31 Flavors" is a funk rock song.[2]