Road to Bloodshed

Sanctity’s one and only album, Road to Bloodshed, is an interesting one, to say the least. By 2007 standards, this is about what you’d expect for a modern metal album – like, what you’d expect at that time is present and accounted for. Some Pantera-esque grooves alongside some Megadeth/Testament-inspired thrash riffs and leads you’d expect from Dark Tranquility, backing the alternating harsh/saccharine vocals, all given clear-cut production courtesy of Jason Suecoff. But Road to Bloodshed’s main advantage is that it eases off the Gothenburg-y sort of hardcore leanings of that sound and err more towards the thrash metal side of the fence, kind of like Trivium did. It’s no surprise that their close affiliation would lead to Sanctity’s sole effort sounding like Trivium’s newest at the time, The Crusade – although ironically, Road to Bloodshed comes off looking a lot better than that album did.

If you listen to the first seven songs carefully, you can actually hear Matt Heafy kicking himself for helping Sanctity sign that record deal with Roadrunner Records. I mean, songs like “Beneath the Machine” and “Zeppo”, with their ridiculously melodic compositions, catchy choruses and ripping solos, are better than anything Trivium’s ever written! They’re the kind of songs a lot of modern thrash metal bands like Evile write one or two of on their albums and then just coast through the rest. Sanctity, though? Not so much. When it comes to the first seven cuts of this joint, they let it rip with a shreddy solo, thrash and riff with ridiculous precision, and let their leads suck you right on into the song as they lead you straight into their brand of melodic mayhem.

If that doesn’t sound like much to you, then picture it more like this – Sanctity style their songs to ensure that the leads, choruses and solos just pop right on out of your speakers. The point of the verses is to lead up to those more bombastic, more melodious choruses with the singular goal. This is especially is songs like “Zeppo” where MacEachern’s about torn out his vocal chords wondering why won’t you fade away into nothing and the titular song which layers his harsher, sort of bloodcurdling vocals with the regular clean vocals. It’s like a scratchier version of Chuck Billy’s vocals, which gives some grit to the music the same way Chuck Billy does to Testament’s music. However, it’s how MacEachern delivers his vocals that explain why – thirteen years removed from this album’s release – I still can’t get any of these songs out of my head!

This approach does result in the songs being better than the sum of their parts. There’s not a particular riff that stands out on its own terms, especially during the verses. No siree, those verses fucking belong to MacEachern – which is good, as his vocal melodies drive those verses something fierce! The riffs simply serve as a means to an end... that end, being a tightly constructed melody that wants nothing more than to occupy space in your head while the choruses seal the deal. Don’t mistake me here – the riffs are still good. They certainly have that patented Testament style to where they can thrash, but keep it smooth enough to create a thrasher that flows. But they also have a real Heathen vibe to them where they clearly shred, but know to reign it in a bit and let it build up a subtly complex melody that wedges itself into your subconscious. Jared MacEachern and Zeff Childress – you mean Alex Skolnick and Lee Atlus? What this all results in are songs that are air-fucking-tight in their overall composition. Whether we’re talking thrashy tunes like “Laws of Reason” and “Zeppo” or groovier but still uptempo hits like “Beneath the Machine” and the titular song, and the poppier “Billy Seals”, each song has the drive, the passion and the energy to propel themselves almost right into the stratosphere!

And above all else, it’s the fact that 80s-sounding thrash metal wasn’t quite in vogue yet, combined with being a Roadrunner Records album in 2007 that actually made Road to Bloodshed less susceptible to the traps a lot of modern thrash bands had fallen into these past thirteen years. I mentioned before how the riffs have that real Testament and Heathen zeal to them, and a lot of that is the reason it stands out so much. Most thrash bands these days take influence from Metallica, Slayer and Nuclear Assault. Sanctity, however, were more interested in being the Heathen – and, if the Paul Gilbert-inspired solos are an indicator, Racer X – of the new millennium. Especially retroactively speaking but even back then, this makes Road to Bloodshed a more interesting album on the whole.

So, given that, Road to Bloodshed is a great fucking album, right? Well yes, but there’s a catch. The opening seven salvos serve as some seriously sublime songs. But after that, the songs nosedive into “well, it’s got its moments” territory. It’s at about this point that the holes in their approach really start to show. “Flatline” kicks off with a blistering solo and it’s got a decent riff throughout, but compared to something like “Zeppo”, it just sort of goes through the motions. The chorus isn’t as catchy. The melody doesn’t stick in your head. It just exists. Same deal with the closing song, “Once Again”. But it beats out “Seconds”, which is just full on Pantera-style groove metal without any of the tempo or any interesting riffs. The groove just chugs and even the thrash doesn’t really thrash. Even then, the chorus has some oomph as it’s vaguely catchy thanks to the vocals, and the solo halfway through rips and tears. But then, the first seven songs took all that and packaged them with songs that are actually good the whole way through and not just in spurts.

Ultimately, Road to Bloodshed showed that Sanctity had a lot of potential to grow and become a major force in the modern metal scene. They certainly had the chops, but there were chips in their armor that needed to be buffed out. It’s interesting since in 2007, metalcore was about to be on its way out and retro-sounding metal was making its way in. Road to Bloodshed really felt like that bridge between the two trends – certainly moreso (and definitely better) than Trivium’s The Crusade was. But even retroactively speaking, beneath a seemingly dated veneer laid timelessly enjoyable music. The Gothenburg-isms sprinkled with the harsh/clean vocal mix scream mid-2000s, but tightly executed melodic music is forever.

I rarely bother to check out Roadrunner Records these days, considering that the label that once promoted so many a technical thrash metal, progressive metal, or awesome death metal act now only promotes mostly crappy modern metal bands. Sure, they may not have as many metalcore bands on their roster as Century Media or even Metal Blade, but lets face the facts. The biggest of these bands such as Killswitch Engage and Trivium are on this label, and it just sucks. So for reason when I heard the words "Sanctity", "hot new thrash band" and "Roadrunner" all in the same place, I got a bit curious though I was rather skeptical. I cannot say I have ever been so skeptical before checking out a band, but when I got around to it I purchased Road To Bloodshed off of Itunes after I found it was there.

A lot of people seem to call Sanctity a thrash metal band. They claim that the band is "melodic thrash metal" or "modern thrash metal". While I like some modern thrash metal bands like Wolfpack Unleashed and newer Kreator outputs, I cannot seem to say Sanctity is either of those. Call me elitist all you want, but I do not think Sanctity is a thrash metal band at all. I really do not know what to call Sancitty exactly other then "Modern metal" band for the most part that has a slightly greater emphasis on their influences from the 1980s rather then those that came in the 1990s or 2000s. In this sense, Sanctity already does a lot of good and that brings up Road To Bloodshed quite a bit from other "modern metal" releases that Roadrunner bands have put out recently (Ie Machine Head's The Blackening and Devildriver's The Last Kind Words in particular).

Most of the old school influence is in the guitar work. Guitar wise, Sanctity draws a lot from Megadeth, Testament, Heathen, and even Racer X. Not only that, it shows in their riff works and solos. Sure, a lot of the metalcore and "modern metal" bands that Sanctity is often believed to be a part of draw influence from Megadeth and Testament, but how many can honestly say in public and show in their music that they draw influence from Heathen and Racer X? Some of the riffs in songs like Zeppo, Beloved Killer, Flatline, and Brotherhood of Destruction really show this well. Zeff's lead guitars are very Racer X like, though he is not nearly as technically proficient as Paul Gilbert or Bruce Bouliet. However, these solos do have a strong Racer X vibe to them, and they are fairly skilled. Sanctity is definitely above most of their contemporaries when it comes to guitar work, and Zeff is proof of that.

However, what I do not like is the numerous parts throughout the album that draw influence from bands like Pantera, In Flames, Dark Tranquility and At The Gates. These guitar parts can be alright to hear at times, but most of the time they are downright annoying and monotonous. The good things such as Jared and Zeff's occasional rapid flashes of dualing guitar harmonies in songs such as Lost to Ego and Beloved Killer are very reminiscent of pre Reroute To Remain In Flames and do not exactly show the band using any originally at all. There are also so many "chugga chugga" parts done in unison with the bass drums throughout Road To Bloodshed that are really hard to ignore, and it gets very boring after awhile. Plus Zeff's lead techniques are very reminiscent of Anders Bjorler's work with At The Gates, and you cannot help but think that some of the solos he puts out are either taken right off of At The Gates albums or should have just been there and not with Sanctity. One other downside is that the solos are really short. All the tracks have at least one, but they are so short that you tend to really breeze over them and do not have to say "wow that as good" or something like that. I really like good guitar solos in my metal and I really like to enjoy them, but Zeff's solos are simply too short to enjoy greatly. I really hope that on future music, Zeff makes sure the solos he writes with Sanctity are longer and a bit more drawn out. It would help a lot if he did such.

Jared MacEachern is a decent vocalist, though does not sound very original at all. The best way to describe Jared's main vocal styling on Road To Bloodshed is James Hetfield like but with a much more guttural approach. Just because they are guttural though does not make them anywhere close to death metal territory, he just uses his gut a bit to combine it with some Hetfield style grit. Overall it is not too bad, though you do get the vibe that Jared is really doing something that a lot of other "modern metal" vocalists do, and that is pretty much copy styles. However, he does not do this nearly as much as people like Matt Heafy of Trivium have done. Trying to vary things up, Jared also tries out singing some clean vocals and even a few hardcore like screams here and there. The clean vocals mostly fail, just being completely in the wrong place or sounding just plain lame. The screams were completely unneeded and just interfere with the music for the few times they are there, so I hope that the band drops these out in the future. Vocal pattern wise Jared does fairly well. There are some catchy choruses and verses on Road To Bloodshed, Beneath the Machine's chorus and Zeppo are fairly catchy and sort of make you want to sing along. So in the vocal department, Sanctity are adequate. Nothing amazing, nothing horrible, just adequate.

Rhythm section members Derek Anderson and Jeremy London vary in skill. Derek is an absolutely horrible, monotonous, and typical metal bassist. Seriously, it seems like half the time the guy is playing the same note over and over again. Yes, you can hear him more then simple frequencies in the mix. However his lines are so rudimentary and repetitive that they do very little to contribute to the music other then fill the gap between Jared, Zeff and Jeremy very thinly. Jeremy London however is a fairly skilled drummer. He often does some fairly quick bursts of rapid kicks and has a few good fills here and there. However, most the drum work he does is nothing really special and simply some more melodic and slightly accelerated standard thrash metal or melodic death metal drumming. He's about at the level of Jurgen Reil in terms of speed and his style sounds a lot like Kreator's legendary drummer, but he does not do nearly as many great fills or show off like Jurgen does.

Songs are alright and monotonous for the most part. Sanctity goes incorporating elements from a lot of different bands of different styles but not all of them show. The ones that show the most are Megadeth, Testament, Racer X, In Flames, Killswitch Engage, and Pantera. The others show up to varying degrees, but some (like the band's claimed influence from Children of Bodom) do not really appear at all. I really do not understand why bands do this at all. People in modern metal bands today do not seem to get the meaning of musical influences. Influences actually shape how you write the music and what you draw from other bands. Sanctity, like so many other metal bands, lists a lot of bands that they probably just like and not actually draw influence at all. This really brings it down, because I do want to hear some reflection of influence in the music and if I do not hear it, I get kind of disappointed. Anyway, overall it's modern stuff that does not change time and key too much but has great emphasis on guitars and plenty of "chugga chugga breakdown" parts here and there throughout it. The lyrics also vary, but most have to deal centrally with death, life, and power in a Pantera sort of manner that kind of gets to me after awhile and just shows immaturity in my opinion.

Production on the part of Jason Suecoff, one of the many people who is obviously making big bucks off the modern metal and metalcore explosion going on nowadays, is typical. It's very clean, features, very triggered drums that sound like plastic but a bit more justice to the bass. However this is the only really interesting note about. It is really just like many of the other records that Suecoff has produced, and nothing really special about it at all. I'm not that into the way he produces records, but I guess it works out nice. Everything is nicely equalized and sounds fairly good, so it's alright in the end. However I would appreciate if one, just one of these bands, had a different sounding mix from all the rest. It would really help out a lot. Sanctity do not do this though and as a result Road To Bloodshed sounds like pretty much every other modern metal release out there.

Well, all in all Road To Bloodshed is alright. While monotonous and nothing groundbreaking, I do pride Sanctity's will to draw a greater amount of influence from the 1980s then most of their contemporaries would be. In my opinion it is not thrash metal, and it is definitely not the best metal record out there at all. However, if you want some modern metal played with a real 1980s spirit with some degree of success, check out Road To Bloodshed. It's worth the download.

Now before, I go on to talk about this album, let me first talk about this band. Some people mistake this band for Trivium wannabes just because Matt Heafy was the one who helped get his band signed to Roadrunner Records. However, this band sounds almost nothing like Trivium. While Trivium tries to sound thrash by being like Metallica, they do not quite pull it off. Just because Matt can "sound like" James Hetfield, doesn't make them thrash. However, Sanctity do indeed pull it off when it comes to sounding like thrash. They have very thrashing guitar riffs, good solos, fast drumming, and while their singer isn't quite as up to thrash's standards, it works for this band. Jared's vocals sound a bit too melodic and grungy for thrash metal, but as I said before, it works. for anyone who thinks this band is not thrash, think again. At first, I thought this band were just poseurs trying to sound thrash, but once I actually gave this band a chance, and not ignored them like some elitist asshole, I found out that they are indeed a thrash band.

Now onto the album itself, if you're looking for a decent - good modern thrash album in hopes that the genre is still alive, then definantly listen to this. Songs like Beneath The Machine, Laws Of Reason, and Beloved Killer are pretty good mid-paced thrashers with great riffs. Then, you have songs like Brotherhood Of Destruction, Zeppo, and Flatline that are more fast paced, with awesome guitar work. Then, you have songs like the title track, Billy Seals, and The Rift Between that are very melodic and catchy as fuck. The title track, inpaticular has to be my favorite song on this album. It's so fucking catchy, and it also has some pretty awesome guitar work. Some people don't look for catchy songs in their music, but I do whcih is why I like this song so much. The only real lackluster on this album is Seconds which has a horrible industrialish intro, but the song picks up somewhat after that. There are really no other crappy moments on this album.

If you're looking for a good modern thrash metal band, then you should check out this band, and get this album, because it kicks ass! Road To Bloodshed has to be one of my favorite metal albums this year so far. However, I tend to have a weakness for thrash metal anyway. Go out, and get this album, now!

Road to Bloodshed is the debut album of Sanctity after 2 demos. It is a very powerful album which can be categorized as melodic death/thrash metal. The album is % 95 free of studio tricks of any kind. There are no vocal effects or industrial programming except for the song “Seconds” which is rather blessed by technology. Thank God this blessing is limited to the intro of the track. The cover artwork is very successful and looks like a work of Travis Smith (I’m not sure who the artist is).

Vocals range from brutal to scream and sometimes clean tones. Chorus and clean tone vocals are used in many songs. However, the vocals fall behind other instruments. Actually some chorus parts sound like drunken hooligans cheering for a win. It is clear that the vocalist tries to sing in different tones. In general he sings in thrashy/harsh vocals. The vocal reminded me of Chuck Billy to a very great extent. I close my eyes and imagine Chuck Billy singing in a Swedish death/thrash metal band with a bunch of back vocalists.

The rhythm guitar has cool riffs that keep the energy up all the time. But it’s the lead guitar parts that make you band your head. Fast ripping solos played on speed drum rhythms just fuel you up. The lead guitarist shows his talent through good solos some of which are thrashy and some are hard/heavy style. Bass guitar just follows the rhythm guitar. It has a nice sound but is hidden in the back so you must listen closely to hear it. The drums are properly played and heard more above other instruments. It seemed to me that the snare sound is a bit high-tuned.

In conclusion, I like this album because it offers a difference to the Swedish death/thrash metal scene, where nothing much has remained untried, from the other side of the ocean. Actually this difference mostly stems from the vocals; however, the brilliant use of the lead guitar takes the album higher. I, regarding the technology driven elements as tumours rapidly spreading in this genre, felt that the album keeps her virginity to a considerable extent. However, in the future the band is likely to go “technological”. Anyway, thumbs up for the debut!!

Sanctity are a love them or hate them band. Sanctity brings a very old school thrash ideology presented in a modern production form. Their playing is relatively modern in presentation but there are some throwback moments to the glory 80s thrash metal scene. Road to Bloodshed (their debut strangely enough), is full of great thrash moments intermixed with modern presentation and production values.

I first heard Sanctity from a demo music video released for the song Zeppo. I was hooked. I absolutely loved the song. I have been looking forward to this album since then. Road to Bloodshed was slightly disappointing considering how much hype had been built around the band (opening on Gigantour 06 specifically).

Musically, the band does have an old school thrash mentality. Sanctity uses their guitar work to bring out that older style abilities. The guitar work is full of complicated riffing (another review I read mentioned the guitar work as a modern Dave Mustaine and that's not far off) overlaid with trade off leads and fast fret solos. Little pinch harmonics give the riffs some great variety and the fact that there is a lot of technicality in the riffs and solos gives the band a leg up on most other modern thrash bands. The guitars do have quite a bit of melody, giving them a radio friendly quality and a catchiness that might throw off some thrash elitists.

The bass work is something to be desired here. The bass mostly follows the guitar work and never really breaks free of his structuring role. This is fine for Sanctity, it does work on Road for Bloodshed, I was hoping for a little bit more from the band.

The drum work for me was refreshing. It's nice to hear a modern thrash band that DOESN'T use death metal style drumming. The drumming is very much the old school thrash mentality. There is a lot of focus on the snare drum and the cymbals. The double bass is used but it's not the focus and its toned down in the production value. The drumming on Road to Bloodshed is well done without being to flashy.

The vocals are actually my favorite part of Sanctity. When I first heard the song Zeppo, I was stunned that the singer was using harsh vocals without being guttural. You don't hear that very often with modern thrash bands. He does vary his style throughout the album, with parts that are sung (not great though) and there are some high notes thrown into the mix. Also in the vocal category that brings back older thrash ideals is the group chants. The band does a couple of group chants of lyrics. That is always a great thing in my book. Makes those songs great songs to perform live with an audience..

Overall, the album is a great throwback to the glory days of thrash. There are going to be moments that some thrashers are going to cringe at. The softer songs stick out quite a bit on the album and a couple of the songs use pianos (I like to think this album is reminiscent of the Youthanasia years of Megadeth). There is also one song (Seconds) that sounds slightly industrial in the beginning but that quickly fades.

Sanctity is definitely a band to watch in the next few years to see how they progress. I know that I appreciate the older ideals that Sanctity are trying to revive.

Songs to check out: Beneath the Machine, Billy Seals, Zeppo.