Artist: Sanctvs / Sotherion
Country: Canada / France
Label: Sepulchral Productions
Formats: Split CD
Year: 2025
Not all too long after Sotherion’s debut full-length, released last year by W.T.C. Productions, the French one-man band seemed to have started working on new material again. That ended up at this split CD with Sanctvs from Canada, also a one-man operation. This split unites two very prolific and creative individuals that together pay homage to a more classical side of the Black Metal spectrum.
Although the artwork of this split CD implies that Sanctvs is first in line, it is actually Sotherion that kicks off. While it is clear from the outset that Sotherion continues to convey the recognizable musical fingerprint of propulsive, stomping and meaty kind of Black Metal, these songs do have a distinctly different texture from the band’s debut album and preceding demo tape. Sébastien “BST” Tuvi musical heritage from his other and older bands such as VI and especially Aostoh is shinging through quite firmly, but it is the much sharper sound in both the guitar as well as in the overall production that sets this recording apart from the older material. It definitely has a much stronger connotation of classic or traditional Black Metal, something that is underpinned by the cover of Darkthrone’s ‘Earth’s Last Picture’, originally released on the band’s ‘Total Death’-album. While not the first cover version, being preceded by Infinity and Meggido for instance, it is clearly a breath of fresh air to hear something else from than the trodden paths of ‘Transylvanian Hunger’ or ‘In The Shadow Of The Horns’.
Sanctvs then, at the second half of this split CD, is a band that I personally never heard before. I saw the name mentioned at Xavier “Mortheos” Berthiaume’s resume that includes bands such as Cauchemar, Akitsa and most notably Gevurah. The first and last Sanctvs release dates back to 2019, when the ‘Mors Aeterna’-album was released (Sepulchral Productions/Les Fleurs Du Mal Productions), so this one was a long time coming. But Sanctvs on these new songs does not sound like a project that has been gathering dust on a shelf somewhere and taken off for the occasion. Compared to Sotherion this sounds quite a bit more modern with its speedy nature, layers of melody and considerably more accessible sound. It fits quite well in the Black Metal of this modern day and age: it is powerful and well performed, but it lacks spirit and it doesn’t provoke. A cover by Mayhem’s ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ is not going to change any of that. While not a badly executed at all and clearly not a half-assed effort, it actually grabs me too little to be truly memorable. I prefer to limit myself to the Sotherion songs as far as this split is concerned.
