Reviews › The Heavens Shall Burn ›
Baconmusic.co.uk
Bursting onto the metal scene with their debut album The Heavens Shall Burn, Sanctorum have created their own distinct sound somewhere between thrash and death metal. This new breed of British metal is fast establishing itself worldwide.
Formed in East Anglia in 2002, Sanctorum were still at school studying for their GCSEs. Through continous gigging, Sanctorum built up their fanbase the hard way. After the band had finished their GCSEs, they set on recording a mini album, but as recording continued, it was decided to release a full length album, which happens to be this album.
Album opener Blood Lust sets down the standards for the entire album, superb riffs, awesome solos and dark and death metal style vocals. This is a brilliant album opener. And it gets better with next track on the album, Ancient Words which has a fantastic intro to the song which contains some great riffs.
Next up must be one of my favourite tracks on this album after listening to it constantly. Entitled Lifeless Love, the true beauty of this song for me doesn't lie within the actual riffs or vocals which are brilliant but at the end of the song because this has one hell of a solo to finish it, which in my opinion the likes of Iron Maiden would be proud of! Awesome!
Well how do you follow that?! Well next track Closure has a bloody good go! This song is another brilliant piece of art that deserves your attention when listening to it. The production of the music is excellent and all the guitars, bass, drums and vocals can be clearly heard.
Time to slow things down a bit with next track Stand Alone. Although it doesn't stay slow all the way through, its good to see this band can change things up a bit when needed. Still a song worth listening to and will surely grow on you after a few listens.
Back to the usual now with Rise. Heavy, great riffs, and growling vocals. The album continues with another two great tracks entitled Watch Me Suffer and Dark Lullaby, which are filled with more of the same stuff. Watch Me Suffer has a nice little solo within it.
Penultimate track My Sickness, is fuelled with the same heavy riffs and growling vocals that have been laid down for the entire album since the opener. This track also contains another great solo. And finally we come to the last track on the album, entitled Desolate Soul which has some excellent riffs and a cracking solo. This is a strong finish to an excellent debut album from Sanctorum. The album is solid all the way through and unlike some albums, the songs are superb and worth listening to all the way through.
Sanctorum have shown with this album that they have the ability to write songs that are not only brilliant but flow excellntly and it is hard to believe this is their debut album as it does not show the bands inexperience. This album kicks ass and if this keeps up Sanctorum can only expect brilliant and better things to come. Superb! Now wheres that replay button?
Rating: 4.7/5.0
Adam Fredericks - Baconmusic.co.uk
