ALBUM REVIEW: Lights On – Sanhedrin
To say the last two years have been bleak would be an understatement. Looking at recent news, that darkness is only set to continue. Reflecting on their recent experiences, SANHEDRIN release their third full-length album Lights On today. Following A Funeral For The World (2018) and The Poisoner (2019), the Brooklyn heavy metal outfit stay true to form as they stretch a 41-minute run time across eight tracks. Yet they subvert other traditions as they submerge themselves within long hidden societal issues.
Correction confronts the brutality of life as we know it. Pulling double duty on bass and vocals, Erica Stoltz’s voice carries undertones of classic IRON MAIDEN while maintaining a slight edge of her own. An infectious chorus sends out a call to arms, uniting people against the atrocities that come with us turning against each other. The riffs Jeremy Sosville serves are juicy but something feels lacking. Creative flair comes through with slivers of melody shining in longer intervals. Yet when Sosville’s solo has its moment, it’s over before it had a chance to begin.
To give SANHEDRIN their due, Lights On sounds and feels organic for them. Opting for a “warm production” – recording in a live setting rather than separately and fixing things in post allows this record to become an intimate experience. In doing this they hit the duality of how an album should be and how it needs to sound to obtain the desired effect. The title track is where this becomes the most apparent. It bears the weight of calling out the racially charged murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin, so it needed to make a sonic statement. As Stoltz claims the “dogs are off the leash”, the hounds sound a bit too domesticated. The elements they need are there as the guitars broil beneath the ferocious vocals but it needs a little bit of a boost.
Before some people get turned off by more immersion in the realities of life, Code Blue gives us a bright reprieve. Happier tones ring from the guitars. Nathan Honor drives the song toward a joyful place with his faster drums. Before the vocals start however, the song gets slowed down almost to accommodate a particular style Stoltz has. Songs such as Lost At Sea and Change Takes Forever prove Stoltz can hold her own performing at a faster pace so the grinding down of Code Blue is an odd decision. Code Blue tells the story of opening yourself up to love, allowing someone into your heart and the very core of you. Desire smoulders through the vocals as Stoltz describes herself as a “moth to a flame”. The composition of this track feels a lot smoother as the dynamics are used to create something rather than solely to listen to. Sosville’s solo carries us through the waves of ecstasy when we first feel intense attraction toward or feelings for another person. The percussion-based interlude sounds like hearts racing. It’s this aural story telling which makes SANHEDRIN a curious listen.
It’s curiosity which carries us through to the fantasy laden end of Lights On. The album culminates in a hero’s demise with Hero’s End and Death Is A Door. These borderline concept songs, when put against the rest of the track list, feel out of place. Should SANHEDRIN have leaned into a full concept album or should they have kept each unit separate? It’s difficult to say but the result we have here is disjointed. The band straddle the lines of classically epic heavy metal, painting tapestries of battlefields and bloodshed. Hero’s End joins the fray toward the end of the strife, when “hope is fading and death is all around”. On the other hand, Death Is A Door signifies that death isn’t an end but the beginning of something else. If that’s a theory listeners subscribe to, the seven-minute epic is sure to be a comforting one. That said, this runtime could have been taken down with tighter production and less space between movements.
What SANHEDRIN have delivered is a good but slightly frustrating listen. This band oozes good quality but the final result holds them back. With a fuller sound and tweaks which come through from experience, SANHEDRIN will be able to capitalise on the fanbase they’ve already established. For stalwart fans of the band, Lights On will most certainly do the job. Newer fans will find enough to draw them in for an initial listen but may not convince them to stick around.
Rating: 6/10
Lights On is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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