Sandveiss is a heavy rock band from Quebec City that came to life in 2011 and has released two full length albums so far. Their third album Standing In The Fire is coming out five years after the highly praised Saboteur and once again fulfills the expectations. There’s something from Black Sabbath, Mastodon and Alice In Chains in their music, but Sandveiss also inject their songs with an uplifting mood and quite a few fists-in-the-air choruses.
Opener I’ll Be Rising, for example, hits with a forceful guitar riff that drives the song in a steady mid-tempo, while the chorus is an instant sing-along. The title track is even more melodic, meant to be played in stadiums, showing this band has so much to offer. Then we have No Love Here, which changes the mood drastically to much darker nuances, with some Bleeding-era Psychotic Waltz influences and a beautiful solo. The instrumental skills of these guys are impeccable and when you top this off with a stellar sound and production, things just can’t go wrong. This new Sandveiss album somehow reminds me of the debut album of Valletta, reviewed here earlier, with the main difference being there are no harsh vocals here. Fade (Into The Night) is more up tempo and rocking, Gone Away is built upon a solid riff foundation from the early Sabbath rulebook, with another catchy chorus and killer guitar solo. These Cold Hands is more of the same, getting straight to the point, headbangable riffs leading fast to an earworm chorus, the tone just a little bit more solemn than usual.
Bleed Me Dry finishes this excellent album with the heaviest, most underground riffs, sounding the most stoner-ish of the bunch, even with the melodic vocal lines of Luc Bourgeois. The instrumental sections at both ends of the song are pure Sabbath at their doomiest, proving Sandveiss are integrating their different influences in a homogenous piece of music that is actually their own. Standing In The Fire is easily one of the most impressive heavy-stoner rock albums this year and I bet this band could easily grow huge if given the chance to perform to larger crowds supporting some of the big guns.
8,5/10
Standing In The Fire will be out on October 11th and you can order it from HERE
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