Even before the release of their debut album, Road To Bloodshed, Asheville, NC metal quartet Sanctity earned respect and recognition from two generations of heavy metal royalty. First, Trivium frontman Matt Heafy saw Sanctity and was so blown-away that he helped them to get a record deal. Then, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine caught Sanctity’s performance during a show with DragonForce and immediately offered them a spot on the second outing of his Gigantour festival. Promising!

 

As soon as you’ve listened to this album once, you realize it is one of those timeless albums that you can still listen to in 30 years. In this case, the album is filled with modern thrash music that resembles to for example old school Metallica. Especially in ‘Zeppo’ you can clearly hear this influence. Although these guys made their first video for ‘Zeppo’, you shouldn’t judge the band on that track only ‘cause to be honest, I don’t think it’s their strongest song. For the more modern-oriented people: think of the latest Trivium album and you’ll vaguely understand what Road To Bloodshed is about.

 

Fortunately singer Jared MacEachern predominantly uses his screaming voice ‘cause he has this nice raw voice. You just get the feeling that he’s really present; he’s not overwhelmed by the instruments and gives you the impression of a real frontman. Apart from that, it totally fits the music. Ok, every now and then he also uses his church choir-influenced voice as well but I’m glad he doesn’t do that too often ‘cause I personally am not a big fan of those parts.

 

Another very strong point of this album is the usage of various melodic parts throughout the album. The music contains just enough melody to keep it interesting for the real thrash fans whereas it’s also very accessible for the non-thrash heads. There’s one slightly disappointing  song called ‘The Rift Between’ but as in most cases on this album, those disappointing parts are soon to be replaced by thrashy riffs, ass-kicking solos and roaring vocals.

 

In the end, I feel like this is a very strong and accessible album for many people, yet I am not convinced a hundred percent. It might come later, it might stay away forever but I do recommend everybody who had doubts about going to the upcoming Trivium/Annihilator shows (in Holland or maybe somewhere else) to do so! Unless Sanctity would completely fuck up their show, you are not going to regret seeing them, which is quite an understatement. Be sure to check this album out!