Band:	Vanhelgd
Album:	Deimos Sanktuarium
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	October 2018

01. A Plea For Divine Necromancy
02. Så Förgås Världens Härlighet
03. Vi Föddes I Samma Grav
04. Profaned Is The Blood Of The Covenant
05. The Ashes Of Our Defeat
06. The Silent Observer
07. Här Finns Ingen Nåd

A wise Metalstormer once said that "the key to good Vanhelgd is white borders around the album art". I second that.

Deimos Sanktuarium is the third full-length release in a row by the Swedes that features a white border on the cover and I spent a lot of time listening to these last three albums recently while driving through Lithuania. Not exactly Swedish forest landscape but quite possibly the next best thing. Vanhelgd's doom/black laden death metal kept me good company during a journey surrounded by endless rows of tall, slim, Baltic trees with autumn leaves of every hue of red, yellow and brown striving to hang on to the branches against the cold wind.

Temple Of Phobos is high in my list of the most engaging death metal albums of this decade so trying to top its predecessor was always going to be next to impossible for Deimos Sanktuarium. But if you refrain from the natural human tendency of comparing, you will find it much easier to judge it favourably on its own merits.

There are many addictive metallic liquids to quench your death metal thirst here. The death/doom trudging of "The Ashes Of Our Defeat" is a black cloud of emptiness swallowing the dim light of all the stars in the sky. The gothic/doom overlays, the melodic leads and the tremolo of "Vi Föddes I Samma Grav" breathe some warm air in an otherwise frozen grave. "Profaned Is The Blood Of The Covenant" is the album's centrepiece and an absolutely outstanding track, with a pace similar to Motörhead's "March Ör Die" and repeated lines of gloomy lyrics drenched in fear and anguish.

Deimos Sanktuarium's music is enhanced by the voice of the void; that means growls oozing pain and suffering that feel and sound so much deeper compared to the cookie monster boredom often used in death metal. On a different note, the chorals at the end of "The Silent Observer", provided by Year Of The Goat frontman Thomas Sabbathi, add an extra ritualistic touch.

Vanhelgd have done it again. Maybe not as convincingly as they did with Temple Of Phobos but definitely more compellingly than most of their death metal counterparts this year.

"Let the sheep feed on your fears
And the soil to swallow their tears"