Sanktuary-Black Magic Brew

Self-produced
2010

This four song EP comes from Sanktuary who are based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. These guys have me thinking that they have spent quite a few hours sitting around in a basement or garage with an old turntable cranking out the likes Iron Maiden, early Slayer, Exodus, Omen and others. Opener "Beasts of lore" is a tight riffed galloping ride complimented by raw vocals and wild guitar solos. If anything this song gets stronger as it goes along. "Waking the dead" has a similar early thrash type feel, but a bit more of a melody blended in as well. They take their time building up the mood and their patience pays off. This is a real blood pumpin' kind of song that will have you nodding your head along the way. Although I was hoping for this song to explode on a few occasions and it never quite did. The title track is up next and again we get classic metal with a slight speed metal touch thrown in around the edges. Clocking in a little under seven minutes this is the longest track on the album. Although it could have been a little tighter down the stretch I did enjoy the solos and the rhythms in the last third of the song. Closer "Dark Logic" is perhaps the heaviest and fastest of the four tracks on the album. They saved the best for last as this aggressive slab of metal is a great way to end this likable effort. Now I love the energy and their effort in fitting in as much as they can into their songs. The downside would be the production is slightly dull at times, but that should easy to correct. Also the vocals lacked the punch I was hoping for on a few moments. I think both of these complaints could be fixed in the future. Overall an impressive EP full of old style fist pumping metal.


http://www.myspace.com/sanktuaryslays