One genre that we do not cover too often here at Indie Band Guru is Heavy Metal Rock. It is not that we do not enjoy some hard hitting and heart pounding rock music; it is because so many of the amateur bands doing it just do not produce quality sound. For some reason musicians that first start playing an instrument think that if they just play it real fast it will mask their inexperience and be good. It doesn’t work most of the time. That’s why I wanted to share the rare band that I found today that truly gets it right! Welcome to Soul Sanctuary.
The London, UK six-piece band plays their own version of British Heavy Metal. Front man Luke Gibson used music to find purpose in life after escaping a self-destructive lifestyle. He hooked up with the founding members of Soul Sanctuary, Paul Gooding and Anthony Montague, and found some brothers-in-arms to achieve the metal dream. Jay Hicks and Ed Stevens were later added to intensify the band instrumentally, while former pop music singer Michael Burrough was added to the vocal mix to sweeten the lyrical delivery and set the band apart from their contemporaries. Soul Sanctuary has mutated into a complete band over their last 4 years together. There are touches of all different genres of rock music here, all blended into one attention-grabbing sound. And they are getting noticed. Currently Soul Sanctuary is the #1 Metal band in London according to Reverb Nation.
Recently I was introduced to the band’s last full album Afterlife. The 13 track record explores all of what is good in the current metal scene. It opens with the title song ‘Afterlife’ which is an ear popping explosion of metal energy right from the first note. The drumming is phenomenal and filled in well by the remaining skilled musicians. Get a load of the powerful video here:
Soul Sanctuary shows that they can write a good alternative rock song as well with ‘Gone Away’. The mix of vocals blends well with a very crowd singable chorus. The band shows real range with ‘Lest We Forget’, the song they released in an attempt to raise funds for the Japan earthquake recovery efforts. The song begins almost ballad-y before launching into a heart wrenching rock song with tender undertones.
There is relentless work going on in the studio now as Soul Sanctuary continues to work on their new album. Collaboration discussions have been going on between the band and some very well-known American producers who have offered to work with Soul Sanctuary on their upcoming release. No release date is set but I am looking forward to what this band can deliver next.
Go get a taste for yourself at: