I’ve always been fan of Sanctuary, so I was really surprised. when after splitting-up of Nevermore they decided to reunite. And when appeared first news about upcoming post-reunion album I was from one hand happy and couldn’t wait to hear how Sanctuary sound right now, but from the other side I was afraid, that Warrel and Jim will try to push the band to become unofficial continuation of Nevermore.
And I was right- “The Year The Sun Died” sounds like another Nevermore album, recorded just after “The Obsidian Conspiracy”. We’ve got here slower, more groovy and progressive compositions, power metal spirit from “Refuge Denied” is absolutely gone. Alright, it’s still really good material, and it was a wonderful idea to recruit Forced Entry’s Brad Hull as a new guitar player, it’s easy to notice that he put a lot into this album. “Arise and Purify”, “Frozen” or the title track are really killer songs. But it’s no longer Sanctuary, that material have nothing in common with old, classic albums.
But the biggest difference are vocals. Of course, they are great- it’s Warrel Dane, right? But can anyone imagine Sanctuary album without high-pitched screams? Can anyone imagine that whole album goes with low-tuned vocals? Another step towards Nevermore. At first I thought, that maybe Dane has reached his age and he just have a problems with anything higher, but I checked live recordings, he still can do it (maybe not that greatly as he used to, but still good  enough to put vocals into more classical way). So every single part of that record tries to be “The Obsidian Conspiracy”’s continuation. Even lyrics and graphical design are much more darker. AS they used to be in Jim’s and Dane’s previous band. So far, we got another good Nevermore album.

Wojciech Michalak