From the Scandinavian lands comes another great black metal band, Sanctifica! Building strongly on the symphonic nature of bands like Crimson Moonlight and older Emperor, Sanctifica brings forth a great cd of true black metal styles mixing the harsh vocals and intense fierce guitar playing with atmospheric keyboards. Spirit of Purity is mostly mid-paced with a lot of melodic feeling. Purveyors of the "old-school" of black metal (ala Horde, Mayhem, early Burzum, etc.. ) may not find this cd "fast" enough. In my humble opinion there is plenty of speed on here and I really enjoy the vocal style here better than most other black metal bands. For the most part the vocals are high and shrill (but not annoying) and they occasionally use a bit of a lower "death" tone while still retaining the true black sound. The guitars are pretty complex without losing the listener or becoming too experimental. Overall I have to say this is really one of the best "black" metal offerings I have heard so far in the Christian scene (with the exceptions of Antestor and Lengsel). Get this cd brother!!!
9/10
Other coverage for this album
Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestOn this eight song album you can hear fast, atmospheric black metal. The atmosphere is created by brooding keyboard sounds while the guitars try to add aggression with biting tones. The guitars are not always played as typical black metal. The keyboards sometimes remind me of Veni Domine, like in the titletrack. Not all the stuff here is fast and aggressive as the band slows down now and then for…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by GrindboyWow, where do you start? If Immortal Souls and Crimson Moonlight collaborated in a Scandinavian all-star band, this is how I'd hope they would sound. Begin with an urgent, aggressive backbone of biting thrash beats from the drums. Blast beats are here and there, but more often a constant slave-driving faster, faster, harder, faster sets the stage for chaos. The guitars, which remind me very much…Similar sounding releases
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