there was *too much* solo in that. it seemed like every 10 seconds there was a lead break. guess that's their way of saying "jeff loomis isn't here but it's still gonna shred!", which i guess they HAVE to do since a lot of younger fans will see this as warrel dane's new band (and almost everyone's gonna compare it to nevermore), but that dude isn't exactly a guitar prodigy. the song itself was pretty boring and the lyrics were awful, but most of his lyrics are awful so eh.

also what the hell is with dane's getup? he looks like a homeless dude who found a cowboy hat and a civil war-era jacket. i know metal's not a fashion show, but surely someone could've pulled him aside and said "come on man, you look like shit."

please. riffmeister Rutledge played killer solos long before Loomis joined Sanctuary for 5 mins, and, actually, did I just read someone complaining about soloing in metal? you can go bury your grief in St.Anger

WD's lyrics (at least in Sanctuary and on his solo album) are great... dunno what kind of lyrics you like, but if "Long Since Dark", "Epitaph", or "This Old Man" don't move you, there's something wrong with you, dude...

I'll agree that this isn't the best (or even the catchiest) song on the album, and don't get why they chose it for a video, but not on the "Dane needs a stylist" bit. I'd rather listen to a band with no dress sense and killer songs, than any of those bands with an Atticus or Vans endorsement.

duh.

Any questions about the cowboy hat can be directed to the dude in the YT comments who claims to have given it to Dane.

Sounds more to Nevermore, WD vocals don't fits old Sanctuary feeling anymore, this hurts being a great fan of Sanctuary.

The comparisons are inevitable, but also entirely logical. They're essentially two different incarnations of the same entity. You can draw a thread of continuity between them, so hearing Rutledge take certain pages out of Nevermore's book isn't surprising nor damning. Nevermore was still playing Sanctuary songs live as late as 2001, by which they'd already firmly established their own identity.

Should there be another Sanctuary album, I really hope Jim but ESPECIALLY Brad contributes to the songwriting. Maybe let Sean throw some ideas their way even if he stays out of the picture.

NO.




knowing what Sean's been up to musically in the last decade, that'd be really interesting

Care to come up with a counterargument that I should take seriously?

largely different main songwriters, different bands. it's like saying Fight and Judas Priest are different incarnations of the same entity.

haha well i'm not complaining about soloing in metal, i just think this particular song has too much of it considering rutledge doesn't have a very distinct style. those solos could have come from the guitarist of almost any "reinvigorated" 80s band ('cept alex skolnik). and i'm hardly suggesting they get skater brand endorsements, guy, but i did think it's worth pointing out that dane looks like a complete bum in that video. i get that we can all throw up our hands and talk about substance over style, but .... that's a shit song, and the frontman looks like shit to boot.

also your priest/fight analogy isn't very accurate - dane has a much larger slice of the songwriting pie than halford ever did, and the guitarists in fight didn't write in the tipton/downing style. the dynamic here is totally different: this incarnation of sanctuary clearly IS the spiritual continuation of nevermore (which itself picked up where into the mirror back left off), with enough sound/songwriting similarities to satisfy the older fans of both bands. fight was an intentional departure from priest as that 80s metal sound went from "current" to "horribly dated" in the space of about 3 years, and they were looking to tap into the pantera/biohazard/prong/etc crowd* as that sound blew up.

but i've listened to the year the sun died twice now through on spotify, and there are definite spots where it's clearly sanctuary and not nevermore - it's buried beneath dane's 2014 vocals, detuned guitars and modern recordings, but atmospherically there's a lot of into the mirror black in there. or perhaps more accurately, there's a noticeable absence of that loomis-style chug/groove, haha. the song "one final day" in particular could be straight from ITMB if it was in standard tuning.

* truth is, halford's a sellout. i don't hold it against him - hell, i liked the fight albums - but he's no hero of true metal as commonly perceived. he has more in common with robb flynn than warrel dane, imo.

I was gonna reply, but I decided to put ITMB on instead...

I spoke to Warrel, though, and he's anxiously waiting for your shopping trip together

Obviously it's the hair. Warrel Dane needs to grow the absolutely epic hair he had in the '80s and his shrieks will be back again.