gothic metal / doom
Many people will know French act Dark Sanctuary from the gothic and atmospheric anthems they have been creating over the years. But, and somehow that doesn't come as a surprise to me, Dark Sanctuary are metal fans. Occasionally, they use their recording breaks to flirt with guitars and drums and completely rework their songs.
Originally, this album was meant to be released in 2009 but it got left behind because the recording of their eponymous album 'Dark Sanctuary' was taking all their time and energy. Now the album finally sees the light of life. With six old tracks reworked, this album is remarkable one.
So how does the metal version of Dark Sanctuary sound? Apparently almost exactly like old Theatre Of Tragedy. Dark, gothic metal with angelic female vocals, bringing those amazing nineties back to mind, obviously also including bands like After Forever, Nightwish, Sirenia and so on. The way these songs have been reworked, you can hear flashes of the atmospheric Dark Sanctuary but if you don't know the band, you would definitely think that this was a vintage gothic metal band.
Of course, that comes with a little problem. Isn't gothic metal outdated? Isn't is something for melancholic nineties metal fans? Hey, I am one of those melancholic nineties fans and I damn well approve of this effort. In fact, I think Dark Sanctuary would make a lot of people happy by touring with this material. I definitely want to see this live one day. But even if they won't, this album goes right into my "heavy nostalgic" playlist, I don't care if it's 1996, 2009 or 2017. Good gothic metal is good gothic metal and this album is exactly that.
Serge
Originally, this album was meant to be released in 2009 but it got left behind because the recording of their eponymous album 'Dark Sanctuary' was taking all their time and energy. Now the album finally sees the light of life. With six old tracks reworked, this album is remarkable one.
So how does the metal version of Dark Sanctuary sound? Apparently almost exactly like old Theatre Of Tragedy. Dark, gothic metal with angelic female vocals, bringing those amazing nineties back to mind, obviously also including bands like After Forever, Nightwish, Sirenia and so on. The way these songs have been reworked, you can hear flashes of the atmospheric Dark Sanctuary but if you don't know the band, you would definitely think that this was a vintage gothic metal band.
Of course, that comes with a little problem. Isn't gothic metal outdated? Isn't is something for melancholic nineties metal fans? Hey, I am one of those melancholic nineties fans and I damn well approve of this effort. In fact, I think Dark Sanctuary would make a lot of people happy by touring with this material. I definitely want to see this live one day. But even if they won't, this album goes right into my "heavy nostalgic" playlist, I don't care if it's 1996, 2009 or 2017. Good gothic metal is good gothic metal and this album is exactly that.
Serge
