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SANKTUARY
Something Fierce

Spread The Metal (2013)
Rating: 7/10

Hailing from Canada, Sanktuary are the latest in a thrashy collective of bands reinvigorating the genre. While the band has a certain thrash bent, there are also plenty of traditional metal elements that remind me of super early Slayer and Annihilator.

After a metal-by-numbers intro entitled ‘Deadly Prey’, Something Fierce opens proper with ‘Heat Lightning’. The song sounds like it was plucked straight from somebody’s lost early 80s demo collection. The sound of thunder roars as the thin but aggressive guitars race along to the sound of the trebley rhythm section. Gang vocals and banshee screams top it all off and, if you come from this era, it will suitably impress you with its authenticity.

‘Hail The Villain’ compliments its back end offering a slightly slower pace and a very cool gear switch at the end, obviously paying homage to Metallica’s early work.

‘Thrill Of The Kill’ is another speedster that tries very hard but never really reaches the peak of its predecessors. The production betrays the album on this one. While it’s got the vintage production sound overall, it’s also left in flaws from that era, such as the drums overpowering everything when the vocal isn’t in play. Vocally this one is a bit more dynamic, with an evil preacher kind of approach similar to what Vengeance Rising did on the classic Once Dead album (1990) years after the style was born.

‘Screeching For Vengeance’ and ‘Fire In The Sky’ get the album back on course with shredding guitar work. The guitarists play like there is no tomorrow as the drums lay out a classic Dave Lombardo (Slayer) foundation and the vocals scream along, trying desperately to sound like the evil heathen it so desperately wants to be seen as.

Meanwhile, ‘Beyond The Wall’ offers a break from the speed with an acoustic guitar base and a thoughtful lead guitar that showcases the band’s talent in a much different way than the rest of the album.

‘Midnite Mass’ follows it with a big build and galloping rhythm that fits nicely with the rest of the album but is just different enough to make the album feel more dynamic. More of a traditional fist-pumper, Sanktuary come off like Sunset Strip preachers on this one. It catches you off-guard for sure and leaves you wondering why some of these elements weren’t used to deepen the other songs as well?

When all is said and done, I love listening to this album. It’s barely left my ears since I have gotten it. What I’m not so sure about though is whether I love it because I love it or whether I love it because it reminds me of the early 80s thrash scene that I have such fond memories of. I can name a dozen bands that Something Fierce reminds me of and whether that’s a good or bad thing will greatly depend on how original you like your bands to sound. For me, this debut album is like being in a dream. Like I mentioned earlier, this really is like finding a lost demo from the early 80s and remembering how kick ass of a time it was.

Mark Fisher

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