Sacred Ground (beef) has been pursuing the iconoclastic ethic of big sounding progressive jazz metal for the last two years. The band swims in the contradiction of being simultaneously retro and progressive, its members having come together out of a compulsion to make engaging music that combined the experimentalality of jazz with the driving emotion of metal. Hearkening back to earlier influences in both genres, Sacred Ground strives to let their music breathe in syncopation, to swing in the back beat and to expand the experience of the audience’s thoughts and emotions.

'One of the things that modern metal and modern jazz both have in common is that they don't really have a groove element in them. I got bored with metal because it was too rigid and monotone in its emotion. Straight jazz is a little too cerebral and smooth. It's really derivative of the jazz that came before it. I like to think that what we do is something of a return to the original creative aesthetic of jazz,' said Sam Rhode, the band's main vocalist and guitarist. His bandmates, bassist Al Vorse and drummer Wade Huber both share Rhode's need to push limits and to avoid anything that feels too conventional to them.

All three members of the band are committed, professional musicians with a suicidal determination to maintain their integrity in their music. Says Huber, “We want to make music that’s interesting. It’s great if I can get people through the door but I want to be in a band where I can express myself. If making money were primary, I’d be in a butt rock band- We all would.”

Sacred Ground has been playing gigs in Minneapolis since December 2002 and has been in the studio twice to lay down their complex, math-rock influenced power jazz. They are in the process of recruiting a new lead singer and are planning to resume playing out by the end of February 2005.