Sanctum
Some notes, thoughts & reminiscences
Martin:
Very strong kick-off with a military snare, and bass, only -- quite similar to Twilight Of Evergreen in fact. I notice the vocals come in early for a change at the 30 second mark. Wow! Is it just me, the vocals seem a wee-bit louder on this one, I'm now even hearing the backing vocals. But alas, possibly not, the backing moans 'n' groans between the 11th and 12th minute certainly need lifting. Anyway, my favourite bits: the quirky guitar repeat pattern at 8:02; the short, sharp, shock of the death- metal-style solo at 12:23. While My Guitar Gently Weeps!
Ollie:
This is quite an early song and is quite simplistic at times but this also makes it a very heavy song.
It was called The Spirit Sanctum originally and is basically a song about retreating/withdrawing inside yourself.
There is an amazing piece of discordant guitar work on this song that actually only became part of the song while we were recording it for the Bleak Insight cd. My jaw dropped in amazement the first time I heard it. I said to Dave S. that's amazing, where did that come from? And Dave just shrugged his shoulders and said "I just thought it needed a little extra something on that part"! Genius.