Sanctuary of Abhorrence

In this age of the internet and the free circulation and means of discovering music you come across bands you've simply never heard of, bands whose history is vaguely or barely documented, leaving us to this day with nothing more than faint evidence of the existence of something that for a group of people was surely something very big. Because even if their existence was ephemeral and their legacy small, bands like Tortura were part of something bigger than themselves, a scene, an identity, a path that would lead more bands from the Czech Republic to enter the ways of extreme metal. I can easily imagine what it would be like to attend a gig of this band in the local scene and truly feel the best that music can offer. And many years later, I come along and listen to this album totally blindly, and one could easily expect one of those "run of the mill" bands with more good intentions than true qualities, but nothing could be further from the truth, Sanctuary of Abhorrence is not "THE" thing that everyone missed out on at the time and that everyone should know for its lost gem value. But, as far as old school death/thrash goes, this is one of the best unknown albums you can find. I was literally just lucky to find it, but I was hooked from the very first moment, because there are several elements and qualities of this work that just grab me.

As I already said, the album oscillates towards death/thrash, influenced by bands like Possessed, Protector or Sepultura, but at the same time there is a very clear influence of the swedish scene when it comes to the production and the guitar tone. And it's in that section that the album gains a lot and becomes a total joy to listen to, the guitars sound sharp and extremely crunchy, making them incredibly satisfying, but unlike the Swedish scene, there is no room for melodic touches in the songwriting, Tortura's music sticks to its cadence, and if it changes it's only to speed it up and raise its intensity more. There are attempts to bring a darker tone to the atmosphere of the work, but this is done with very punctual ambient elements that at no time cut the flow, but rather add more density and depth to the material they are working on, because there is nothing here that is overdone at any time. The songwriting is also very interesting, because although it is true that it doesn't take any strange path and in many aspects follows very conventional patterns, the compositions are not intuitive at all, you don't know at what moment they will make a punctual change of dynamics and direction before returning to the original path. In that sense the album feels incredibly dynamic because it is something that happens in almost every song, inviting you to listen to it again because the amount of little details it hides makes it hard to remember and each new listen keeps surprising you.

I also really enjoy most of the production, I've already mentioned, but I reinforce it, is the quality of the guitar tone on this release, and it's something that will be noticeable throughout the entire long play, giving a masterclass in how you don't need incredibly memorable riffs to be gripped and drawn into an album of this nature. The bass tone is also fantastic, being a loud and clear companion throughout the entire work, shining a great job in the mix that translates into a great sense of heaviness that the album brings with it. The drum sound is where it really gets in the way, but I'm understandable, being an underground production in the Czech Republic in 92, I can't expect much better considering that not even the most iconic bands of this era were able to have a good drum sound. And then there are the vocals, which, besides being perfectly good as far as individual quality is concerned, there is something exceptional in the singer's delivering that I just love, you can feel a lot of nuances and vigorousness in moments like when he shouts in the third track "Henri...SANSON!" that just gives me goosebumps, the feeling that he is really giving it his all is what really sells it to me.

An album lost in time like so many others, but it's not worth regretting it, what was is gone, and the only thing you can do, as I humbly do, is to use their word to spread the quality of works like this, so that, even if the band no longer exists, there will always be someone new to enjoy it.