People must understand that there are many different subgenres in Power Metal, so everyone must take care to not commit mistakes, because acts like GRAVE DIGGER, HELLOWEEN, RUNNING WILD, RHAPSODY OV FIRE, ANGRA, RAGE, PRIMAL FEAR and many others are totally different. But again: to speak about differences doesn’t mean that a band is equal or is copying anyone. Stated such words, it becomes easier to deal with “Sanctuary of Death”, the new album of the Spanish act VHÄLDEMAR. Pedro J. Monge (the band’s guitarist and one of its founders) produced, worked on the recordings, mixed and mastered “Sanctuary of Death”, with Aitor Ruiz helped on the recordings of the vocals. The main idea: to create a sonority that could be aggressive and clear at the same time, and things have a clear outfit in such direction.

Things are defined and understandable, but filled with very good aggressive instrumental tunes. And as guests, here are Diego Zapatero on the piano and Gavin Ledema on the second guitar solo on “The Last Flame”, and Pablo Sancha Quintanilla on the keyboards on “Sanctuary of Death”. And the artwork of Darkgrove Design is excellent, fitting on what the band shows on its songs. The quintet’s music works on a traditional form of Power Metal, mixing influences of acts as HELLOWEEN and GAMMA RAY with the weight of the early releases of GRAVE DIGGER and PRIMAL FEAR. It can be said it’s melodic, technical and heavy into a traditional model for Power Metal (but some different traces can be heard, as the unusual drums on some parts of “Sanctuary of Death”), with some epic feeling in some moments, but always in a personal way. Yes, it’s really very good.

All the songs are really excellent, and the band deserves applause. But to have an S0 (the symbol used for initial position on Physics) on the album, taste “Devil’s Child” (excellent melodies and a catching chorus, with a very good work on the vocals), “Dreambreaker” (here the riffs and solos are really excellent, with charming melodies and ambiences), “Deathwalker” (this one shows a more aggressive tendency, with abrasive guitar riffs and excellent drums and bass guitar parts), “Sanctuary of Death” (one can say that this one is a traditional Power Metal song in many of its features, but once again: there are parts of the drums that aren’t conventional for the genre here), “Heavy Metal” (maybe we could say that it’s the traditional ‘happy’ Power Metal song on its traits, but’s very good on its melodic grasp), “Journey to the Unknown” (again some unusual elements inherited from accessible Hard Rock and Thrash Metal are heard on this one), “Brothers” (some parts brings elements from US Metal and US Power Metal), and “The Last Flame”.

It’s great to see that after 25 years VHÄLDEMAR still has guts to offer a very good release as “Sanctuary of Death”.