Sacrosanct – Kidron
Release Date: 7th March 2025
Label: Roar
Order/Stream
Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Thrash Metal.
FFO: Iced Earth, Fates Warning, NWOBHM, Brainstorm, Savatage, Queensrÿche.
Review By: Rick Farley
Hailing from the Netherlands, heavy metal band Sacrosanct, established in 1988, released three albums in the early nineties, which were then labelled as sophisticated thrash metal. The band took a twenty-five-year hiatus and returned in 2018 for what would be their fourth full length album, Necropolis. Released to critical acclaim, the band branched out more from their previous sound to be more melodic and atmospheric. Now another six years has past, and the band is returning once again for their exciting new release Kidron that just may be their most sophisticated sound yet. Adding even more traditional heavy metal and power metal flavour to their melancholic, edgy take on progressive metal. Not quite thrashy at this point, but also with enough bite that it mostly satisfies that urge. Think a more polished, cleaner produced, progressive version of Iced earth. I’m not a huge fan of name-dropping other bands in reviews, but in this case, it works in favour of nailing the band’s sound easier.
Kidron was essentially finished by the end of 2021, but challenges from that time period provoked a split between the band and their vocalist. Bass player Max Morton stepped up and took over vocal duties. He re-recorded the vocals on the record. Max has an exceptional voice, extremely melodic, charismatic, and seemingly can hit all the notes. Powerful highs, smooth tones and depth building dynamics. With the help of lyricist Per Albinsson, new lyrics and song titles were penned and brought another layer of new life to the material. The circumstances that surrounded the recording of this album during this time period provided a unique atmosphere, which enhances the complicated set of emotions that is present in the soundscape. Despite the dramatic life events that occurred, the record has an accessible authenticity about it that makes it an extremely easy listen that is enjoyable and repeatable.
That becomes both the strength and weakness of this album. It’s absolutely 100 percent a strong release that soars high with twin guitar harmonies, crunchy riffs, phenomenal vocals, and truly well written songs, but it also lacks a fresh energy and can be somewhat samey throughout. There’s a certain amount of complexity that’s missing from the overall sound. Clearly the musicians are all highly skilled, playing technical enough music, but I would have loved some more fire at certain points of the record. Everything leans more toward the sombre, melancholic, dramatic side of things which is perfectly fine, but give me a little pissed off, a little more often.
The opening track Marching Days starts with an ominous melodic riff that you know is leading to something. It rips into a thrashy riff and high-pitched wail from the vocalist. Heavy, energetic, and epic with a little darkness setting the tone for the rest of the record. Unfortunately, while the remaining eight tracks are all good in their own right, they never exceed or match the intensity of the opening track. Again, I have to stress, that it doesn’t mean there’s not some really great songs here, because there definitely is.
Sacrosanct is certainly going to please most of the fans of these genres, but after reading the press release for the album of what the band went through or is still going through, I personally feel like it’s missing some fiery electricity. Don’t confuse this as me saying this is not a worthwhile listen because that’s just not the case, Kidron is still an enjoyable listen that many will find exceptional.
(3.5 / 5)
