ALBUM REVIEW: Sanctuary – Alkymist

ALKYMIST may have only formed four years ago, but they’ve quickly established themselves as not only one of the best acts in their native Denmark, but also one of the more impressive doom acts on the world stage. Their debut EP, Element, and their self-titled debut album have turned a lot of heads, with a noxious blend of sludge and doom with a few hints of black, death and progressive metal thrown into the mix giving them their own distinguishable sound and cementing them as one of the more imaginative acts out there. Their latest record, Sanctuary, sees ALKYMIST further expand their sound and style, making for what is arguably their best output to date.

Oethon, with its minimalist leads and thick rhythm guitars with powerful, droning moments, is a great start to Sanctuary. The vocals, which are haunting and at times monstrous, provide a lot of depth to this track, giving this an even larger and more impressive sound, and setting a lofty bar for the rest of the music to overcome. The Dead is a much more intense offering, with a crusty bass tone more acerbic vocal passages giving this a darker and more monolithic feel, closer to death metal at points than doom. Light, glorious guitars and steady drumming add a great contrast to this, giving this whole song an eclectic, ferocious sound. S.O.Y. acts as short interlude, with excellent, soaring guitars and eerie vocals giving this a great, atmospheric feel that it’s hard not to love. It may be brief, but it does add a little variety to the proceedings, and works incredibly well.

Draugr, with more energetic drum hooks and jarring, dissonant guitar flourishes, is a much heavier offering with a weighty, and at times oppressive, sound, which slowly builds to a huge motif towards the songs closing moments that has some fantastic, expansive guitars and hazy riffs, cementing this particular track as an early album highlight. Gust of War adds another fleeting break from the rest of the record, with sparse guitars interweaving with a heady, dark ambient undercurrent, that makes this short, but effective, track really engrossing.

Desolated Sky, much like the closing moments of Draugr begins to see the band inject a more varied guitar tone into the album, with delicate, sublime moments vying with chunkier sections and others that border on psychedelic, giving this song an extremely diverse sound that has some great, hypnotic moments peppered amongst the more driven, crushing ones. The vocals are another part of the music that really excels here, with visceral gutturals being punctuated with creepy, dramatic moments that really give this song an even more immersive feel. This song may be long, but it really is one of the finest moments, and keeps the listener enthralled until the very end of Sanctuary.

Astral Haze, another lengthy affair, is an amazing track that couples vicious, grove-laden guitars and a primal drums sound with roaring vocals, with a few Ambient hints giving this song a massive, atmospheric sound. It’s absolutely fantastic from start to finish, and genuinely hair-raising at points, and stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of the music on the rest of the album. Warkeeper closes the album with a brief, yet brilliant blend of haunting ambience and thick, powerful guitars, which provides one last, instrumental piece that helps give this albums final moments an angelic quality.

There’s a lot to love with Sanctuary. The dense and fierce approach of Oethon and Astral Haze are a little evocative of CELTIC FROST‘s Monotheist, whilst still adding their own little flourishes to make everything all the more fantastic, and the album’s lighter moments that utilise cleaner tones make for an excellent contrast. Every aspect of ALKYMIST, from the guitars, to the percussion, and especially the powerful vocals, make this album thoroughly impressive from start to finish, making this one of the more memorable doom albums to come out this year.

Rating: 9/10

Sanctuary is out now via Indisciplinarian. 

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