SANCTITY – Road To Bloodshed

Road To Bloodshed is the debut album by the American Thrash Metal band Sanctity. Sanctity was discovered by Matt Heafy (vocals and guitarist in Trivium) after he saw the band perform at a gig in South Carolina. Heafy gave Sanctity’s recorded material to A&R personnel at Roadrunner Records, and that led to a record deal for the band.

Make no mistake; this is a band that is eager to make it big. Just to underline that … it should be mentioned that they played 190 shows in 2005 alone! Even before the release of Road To Bloodshed, they were opening act for Black Label Society, and were hand-picked by Dave Mustaine to join Megadeth, Lamb Of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy and many more on 2006’s Gigantour. Sanctity is currently touring with Trivium, Annihilator, and Gojira on the World Crusade European Tour that takes place from April to June. During July and August they will be touring the USA with Symphony X.

Sanctity’s style is a mix of technical, but old-school classic Thrash Metal and uncompromising Heavy Metal. They sound influenced by Testament, but there’s still something new over Sanctity’s music. The vocals are really aggressive and on the limit to growling (almost Metalcore style, but not quite), but as vocalist Jared MacEachern says: “… I sang in church choir between the ages of 5 and 13, so I try to put some of that in there as well.” MacEachern’s voice is definitely varied and it gives the music that little extra. This can be heard on songs like “Beneath The Machine” and “Zeppo,” where he doubles himself with high-pitched vocal lines on top of the more aggressive and harsh vocals, which at times could be reminiscent of an extreme Rob Zombie.

The collaboration between the two guitarists MacEachern and Zeff Childress is great. Childress’ solos are technical and intricate at times, but also very melodic. For instance, check out the solo’s on “Beloved Killer” and “Seconds.” The double riffing is flawless and at times they even play really cool guitar harmony parts. Jeremy London’s flawless drumming sounds great underneath the machine gun guitar riffs, and when he puts in some double bass drum action to back them up, you’ll feel an urgent need to start bouncing off the walls!

Also worth mentioning is the intro of “Billy Seals.” It starts off with violins, which set the mood with a grieving melody that is relieved by a heavy, but melodic riff. The verse consists of MacEachern’s vocals on top of a violin, Derek Anderson’s bass, and London’s bass drum and hi-hat. This makes the chorus (consisting of the whole band) even more intense.

There are no weak spots on this release and the highlights are many on this album, but three tracks really stand out as amazing songs; “Beneath The Machine,” “Zeppo,” and “Beloved Killer.” The record is produced by Jason Suecof (Trivium, God Forbid), and he has done a great job. The sound is somewhat raw, but still explosive and delectable.

Sanctity considers bands like Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica to be primary points of influence, but they’ve definitely found their own style. Road To Bloodshed is indisputably one of the best records that will be released this year. A killer debut album like this doesn’t come along very often, and it promises well for future releases from this band!

Lineup

• Jared MacEachern – Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
• Zeff Childress – Lead Guitar
• Derek Anderson – Bass
• Jeremy London – Drums

Road To Bloodshed has 12 tracks with total running time: 45:13