This album was probably a lot of fun to write. The guys probably have a blast jamming to this stuff. I'll bet they think it's just the greatest time anyone could have playing music. But it's absolutely NO FUN for me to listen to.
There are still traces of black metal, but this is just sort of really really progressive black/death influenced metal. Like if you took equal parts Dream Theater and Rush, then added some occasional death vocals you're just about there. That's right, no more black vox, they're mostly clean. Sometimes they're not bad, sometimes they annoy me. But that's really the least of my problems here. The biggest problem is the almost complete lack of aggression. It's heavy at times, of course, but never even comes close to pounding you into the ground like Spirit of Purity did. No, instead they're going to throw in a time change or twelve, maybe a pretty interlude here and there, and basically make this completely inaccessible to anybody without a music theory degree. Maybe they "matured." Whatever happened, I desperately want the old Sanctifica back.
Hey, there are some cool moments. The riff in "Stardust Inc." is pretty groovy, and it's way cool at the start of "Red Alert" (the best song on here, probably) when it suddenly gets a little more aggressive and they say "Switch to warrior mode." Yeah! But you know what? In the good old days, they never had to switch, they were slaying you from the start. But only about 1/3 of this album is in this "warrior mode," which still doesn't come close to the brilliance of past albums. Plus, honestly - the clapping section in "Epitaph" is absolutely unforgivable. Ugh.
Lyrically. . . uh. . . I don't really know. As near as I can tell, they're going to pull the fire alarm at a dance or something. But I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to be wearing red or white, nor why I should care. This is obviously some type of a concept album, and maybe it's really cool when you put it all together. If you can make sense of it, feel free to let me know.
Bottom line - if you're a black metal fan, save your money (or better yet, pick up their split w/Pantokrator that has their old demo stuff). If you like really progressive conceptual stuff that is occasionally pretty heavy, go ahead and take a shot on this one.
4.5/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #96Reviewed by Matt MorrowGone are the days of being labeled an Emperor clone. Sanctifica is now almost impossible to classify. To call them progressive death, black, alternative, electronic, experimental metal would be confusing -- somewhat accurate, but still inept at pinning them down to a definite sound. Upon first listen, I was close to furious anger. This is so far from the Spirit of Purity sound (that I adored)…Art for the Ears 2002Reviewed by Marco PovervestHere's a band with guts. After a demo and an album (Spirit Of Purity) containing atmospheric black metal, this band changed direction musically. There's guts needed to do it as there's no doubt you will heavily disappoint the fans who are mainly into black metal. In fact, the fans will hear a completely different band. The only thing that hasn't changed, is the name and you might wonder if it…Similar sounding releases
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