Without any information I put on the record. That's best to have a genuine view, isn't it? Heavy doom riffs, but soon I am startled when all registers are opened and distorted vocals and bass-tuned sounds make my house shake. Sanctus Infernum mauls without mercy! But suddenly we hear flattering, nearly psychedelic guitar solos which are amazing. What is this? Heavy battering; yet with a vision? I went looking for more information.

This is the self-titled debut of an American band hailing from Wichita, Kansas in the United States and formed in 2006. The man of the flattering guitar solos appears to be an ex member of Manilla Road! Well, it was the second version of Manilla Road when most of their bolt was shot, yet… guitar solos on this album are the icing on the cake. When this album was recorded they had the minimum line-up of three men: Mark Anderson: bass and guitar (the Manilla Road bass player from 1999 till 2002, only a counter in the whole, let's be honest), Ricky Vannatta: vocals (he likes distortion a lot, resulting in a low-pitched grunt) and drummer Chris Johnson (he does a great, powerful job). Since May 2008 they have added a bassist named Jason Banks. I suppose they will play live as well.

My vision on this album is that it sounds quite obstinate and original. Even during the ten minutes long 'The Journey Back' they remain engrossing. That is the track where we hear some acoustic fragments at the beginning and the end and they run through a wide scale of emotions while they do not care about specific genres. Heavy doom riffs, distorted vocals as if mister Vannatta declares his notes on a platform alongside, then we are regaled with sublime soloing and the band's verdict is: "The Journey Back to Dust". Quite dark and underground. We cannot complain about the production of James Ismert, it will have its pros and cons. Also in the next tracks Sanctus Infernum proves that they do not care about restrictions and genres. Isn't that what we all praise with releases of, for instance, Indie Recordings? Fans of heavy ponderous metal that leaves the beaten track might discover a new favourite if they have a listen to this new band from the United States.

80/100

Reviewed by: Vera

If i look at the cover of Sanctus Infernum's debut material, i don't know what come to the mind of others, but it reminds me of iSiS, Mastodon and the alike artistic monstrums. And let's face it, it doesn't mislead us, since in their genre's borders the mixture of doom and depth own a fancy box, to which added black and death metal elements creats the real motherfucking, meat-stripping, hook metal, with which they're moving our short-tailed friends in the cold storage. The american band formed in 2006, and for me three unknown team's names emerges in the biographycal details: Grand Facade (which is theoretically a melodical death metal), Manilla Road (epic heavy/power/thrash) and Chapel of the Eye, which was a doom brigade, and existed only for one demo. I can't get enough of the cover (Jumali Katani) and the booklet (Sergey Terentiev), it isn't something unique, only a nice PS work, but it's stylish, it has deeper thoughts and the design isn't a hasty work, rather a worked out conception, and this is the word, which came to my mind numerously as a feeling through the muscular and mammoth (how suprising, heh? haha) kind of sounding album. The only negative thing is the logo, this symetrical thing with those flames is tremendously bad, or it doesn't fit, if it winked back from a cover of a motorbike lover deatn'n'roll crew or from a stooner brigade, then i would understand the feeling, but this 45 minutes are not really about parties, beer, sex, girls and drugs and the joy of speed...

They define themselves on their myspace page as Death Metal / Down-tempo / Black Metal... well, as i see they are not completely clear with the meaning of down-tempo, and they do not have any common with trip-hop slowed down experimentals overstepped by the hypnotical self-repeating clacking ambient, but all right! Let's see, what can i bring out from them!

First of all the reception and interpretation are not an easy task, it isn't that cd, which gives itself for the first listening, that' why the names of Mastodon or iSiS were effective at the beginning of my article, but like that i could mention the symbol of Neurosis or Pelican too (however the latter brouth itself to the end with its last album, it was a pity hearing-listening). This 45 minutes actually goes along the meaning of classical doom death strikes, hooks on strange black influences, with old-school kind of stooner solos (actually these are the part of doom), and again with not common acoustical breakdowns, and varyfied the only breathing melancholy with monumental movements, which are typical in the above mentioned bands. At numerous places old school doom and death metal spheres descend from twenty years depth, and request us for circulating dance ritual, but the point of perception is in death, as the lyrics are not about the flower collecting Katinka, neither the caring father. To the deep feelings, personal lyrics and abysmal music are the most fitting, and there is no lack in this here!

I've got a feeling, that they sell the past tasty wine as something new, deepen it with spices, but not in a new arty/kitschy suit. Certainly, that also belongs to the truth, while Neurosis hides huge musicians in itself, till then Sanctus Infernum's strenght is not in the specialized knowledge, but it's not a wrecked ship, because not the knowledge is the goal, rather the depth and vegetative feelings brought up from the past. One song flows into the other, painting a terrify, majestic and heavy picture of the recent past and the world before birth, they suprisingly do not think of future. After this much of ballast it wouldn't make any sense. One of my friend said not long ago, that he commited suicide at night in his dream, and death was just like when long ago we sniffed together glue.

This dissonant floating and joy of consciousness could close into a box in the side of feelings the circus of the american band unmatched deviance: the dark croaking-rattling vocals full of hatred and the depressive slow rumbling, which are pressed out from the drums and guitars. I do not claim, that Sanctus Infernum would put down something huge and unique to that table, but it's adequatly abundant and artistical, thus we can't eat it on one dinner, and until other band only give us crumbs, here we find 2 kilos of bread on the table with a knife in its head...

9.9/10

Reviewed by: Zoltan Pataki

Sanctus Infernum - Self Titled (Solitude Productions) Review by Chris Davison

Well, this is a turn up for the books!  Solitude Productions, that bastion of Eastern European doom / death unleash this, an American band onto the metal markets!  From the none-more diabolic hotbed of...erm...Kansas, come the unique sounds of Sanctus Infernum.  I'm going to say right from the beginning that I am going to be raving about this, because it reminds me of the best parts of one of the most revered heavy metal bands of all time, but they're also practically ploughing an unfurrowed path.  Confused? You will be...

In a sense, this brave four piece defy genre conventions.  My first inclination is to say that they are a death metal band, but they're a death metal band that play extremely slowly.  Now, the more pernickety amoung you will be raising an inquisitorial finger, and pronouncing, "Aha! Doom / Death then?".  No.  This is not some lace-lined, hanky-weeping gothic nonsense.  This retains all the malice, spite and occult feel of all the best early death metal, but slowed down to an insane, warped pace.  OK.  Here's where I make the reference to the old death metal band.  Actually, what I'm going to reference is the chourus to Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are The Sick".  You remember how sick, how fucking wrong that sounded?  I can remember thinking that was the true sound of a band that had somehow invoked the old ones, in all their warped un-glory.  Sanctus Infernum have produced an entire album that drags this strange, skewed, downright nasty sound from you speakers.

The guitars are dredging up dirty, mangled riffs from the most brackish musical swamps, while the drums produce a dread inspiring, constant doomy vibe.  The bass work ties in tandem with the drums, beating the rhythm of a blackened heart.  Best of all though, are the delightfully mental death vocals of Ricky Vannatta.  They seem to be the human vocalisations of an animal, channelling the beyond via his vocal chords.  The pacing and production of the album is bloody brilliant - it's a thick, gravelly, unkempt record that seems hend hewn from some kind of diabolic granite.  I honestly can't get enough of it.  Slow death metal is the past.  Slow death metal is the future.  Viva Sanctus Infernum.