SANKTUARY — Winter's Doom (review)

SANKTUARY — Winter's Doom album cover Album · 2016 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Wild is the wind...

Genre: thrash/speed/traditional metal

Canada's Sanktuary are back with their second full-length album in the form of "Winter's Doom". Balancing between traditional metal, speed metal, US power metal and thrash metal, they are often considered a power-thrash metal act, and those elements definitely also crop up on this album.

The first two tracks - 'Space Race' and 'Wild Is the Wind' - primarily explore traditional metal, which the band's inner speed metal beast is let loose in 'Vermin Lord', and 'Winter's Doom', 'Open Your Eyes', 'Corpse Blockade', and 'Maximum Authority' take a more thrash-informed route.

Sanktuary seamlessy go back and forth between thrash, speed, and traditional metal elements on this album, such that a thrashy section and an NWoBHM-inspired melodic section can appear next to each other without it seeming forced, and such that a chomping mid-paced US power metal section can be followed by a old school hard rocking metal guitar solo, making it sound like the most natural thing in the world. A good example of this is the combination of thrashy riffage in the verse of 'Corpse Blockade' and a NWBoHM-esque melodic verse. To me the thrashy aspect of this album is dominant though, and the listener is definitely treated to several deliciously thrashy riffs.

The production is not at all polished, but far from lo-fi as well. It has just the right amount of crunch and fuzz to go with this kind of music. The vocals, which are best described as slightly punky yelling may be an acquired taste, but, if you're into this type of vocals, it should mesh nicely with the music and the production. Sanktuary are obviously skilled metal songsmiths as witnessed by their focused use of elements from the handful of genres they explore, and the musicianship is solid.

Fans of old school thrash metal, who don't mind a dose of melody and traditional metal, should check out this album.
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