SANCTOPHOBY [Ltu]
“Malicious Call / Xрам Древнего Зла” EP [2013]

Though Sanctophoby is a Lithuanian project (now residing in Great Britain), they personally never induced sympathy from me. And perhaps I wouldn’t have emphasized the band’s newest 7” EP if not for Dainius, the publisher, who have agreed to let me have one of the copies for my vinyl collection. And now I am just glad for not missing such an opportunity. I can’t compare their earlier creations with what is released now. Maybe that is because of the fact that I’m acquainted with it too little, but this mini-vinyl forces me to change my view about Sanctophoby immensely. Though the record contains just two songs and an intro/outro, this short album induces sentiments for the early Lithuanian Black Metal veterans as Valefar or even Anubi. Though this EP basically doesn’t present anything really original, this offensive and damn dark Black Metal has a load of charm. Perhaps even the quality of the record is the factor that induces the nostalgia, but it is just really attractive. The vocals pleasantly surprise, they perpetuate both the traditional screaming and the clearer themes or just emotional expressions. In general, this EP is mostly alike to the primitive version of Acheron. The guitars are quite simple and not spectacular, the drums, though they can be hardly heard, carry out much more interesting work by altering rhythms. Despite all this, I still have to emphasize that this release charms not with its musical solutions, but rather with the infinite darkness and atmosphere of the music... [7,5; Odium]