Quite some time passed since the previous Sanctum album, but the members have been busy with other projects in the meantimes. I was very impressed by the performance of these Swedes at the Summer Darkness festival, so I was eager to obtain this album. And it is really one of my favourites of the moment. Harsh industrial noises and raw, often screaming vocals collide with dramatic, classical melodies. This causes a lot of intensity and depth.
Highly moving string and piano parts are combined and alternated with sudden noisy or rhyhtmic outbursts, like on the great instrumental title track or on ‘Shut up’, which also reminds me of their other project Mago. On various tracks the male vocalists force all air out of their lungs. But there’s also a track like ‘A pose’, with more delicate poppy female vocals. This is then again followed by ‘Nar’, which is really heavy and agressive. Very intense is also ‘Shine’. When Sanctum sings ‘I wanna fly like an eagle in the sky’ I really see these image in front of me. A great experience this album.
