You like riffs? You like melody? Are you a disciple of all things rawk? Then High Priest has exactly what you’re looking for and on Sanctum, they truly deliver those goods and more!
“Falling/Together/Into Hell!”
“Thoughts Ring/Forever/In Your Head”
And with those impassioned cries from bassist/vocalist Justin Pence, High Priest’s Sanctum is off and running. Driving those words home is a thorough wall of riffage from guitarists Pete Grossmann and John Regan preceded by a percussive throttling from Dan Polak in the lead up to Pence’s delivery kickstarting “Descent” off all proper like.
“Creature” is next and is just frickin’ huge. When the riffs mesh with Polak’s pummeling and Pence’s voice during the chorus, listeners will be treated to an extreme exercise in aural serenity. “Paradigm”, on the other hand, adds even more depth with vocal harmonies reminiscent of Alice In Chains and even classic The Moody Blues at times with Grossmann and Regan conjuring crushing riffs that’d sound at home on any album by the quartet incarnation of Corrosion Of Conformity.
And what riff-centric album would be complete without an epic closing track? In the case of High Priest, “Offering” goes for the gold as this just about seven minute monolith grows off the strength of what came before and goes bigger. Pence’s thunderous bass rumbles are bigger! Polak’s crashes and calculated bashes are bigger! Grossmann and Regan’s super shredding is, you guessed it, bigger! And while bigger isn’t necessarily better, on “Offering” it certainly is.
Sanctum drops through Magnetic Eye Records on April 19th and you should do your part by pre-ordering yours here. For the latest on High Priest, head on over here.