Synopsis:

A thrash band championed by Trivium’s Matt Heafy and subsequently signed to Roadrunner? Sounds to me like someone owed someone a favor.

Review:

I’m trying not to be negative, but Sanctity are a modern thrash band that sound a little too much like wanna be thrash legends, Trivium, though truthfully Sanctity might be a bit more honest and real in their thrash stylings, as they haven’t made a drastic style change three albums into their career. North Carolina’s Sanctity play polished, melodic, energetic, modern thrash metal with a huge nod to the likes of Testament, Metallica (the Bay Area scene as a whole) with a modern gleam and hint of rock, metalcore and all wrapped in a stout production (Shadows Fall comes to mind). It all sounds like a perfect record, but like the recent Daath record, the sum of its parts does not equal greatness, though it is a solid offering.

The 12 glossy up-tempo, interlude (if you don’t include the violin intro to “Billy Seals”) and ballad-free tracks come across as professional, mindful of the past and with an eye on metal’s current state. They're gravelly vocalled (with plenty of clean singing), solo ripe (“The Shape of Things”), chorus ridden (“Flatline”, “The Rift Between”), riff filled (“Seconds”, ‘Once Again”) and bound to get a younger mosh pit moving at a no doubt upcoming Ozzfest or Sounds of the Underground show. However, I can’t quite put my finger on what is missing. Again, I’ll reference the recent Daath record--on the surface, and on paper Road to Bloodshed appears to be a great record, but after 3-4 spins it simply becomes ‘another’ metal record and I cant really recall any of the songs. Maybe I’m jaded due to having to listen to 10-30 news CD’s every week, and the special ones simply blend in to the mass of metal. If I were joe metal buyer, would blow me away? Maybe. And I can see a younger metal community latching onto this lot. But I can say with my hand on my heart that, beyond review purposes, I just don’t see myself giving Road to Bloodshed much more attention. 

Still, Road to Bloodshed has some appeal and I’m preferring this over the last Trivium record, and on a superficial, unit moving level, Sanctity have some appeal and certainly have tangible ‘star’ factor that will make them popular, but metal heads looking for something a little deeper and more unique might want to look elsewhere.