“By the time you listen to it again, you start wondering if Thy Sanatorium aren’t Tier 1 pros who decided to have a field day and explain to the common mortal man what symphonic black metal could be if properly played.”
For lack of a better word, “challenging” is what comes to mind when trying to understand who international sextet Thy Sanatorium are, as nothing adds up. Created in 2025, the band are self-releasing their debut album in 2026 in the form of a symphonic black metal record, as if that’s how it’s supposed to be. It is not. Far from it. Not only is black metal a very unforgiving subgenre, one that does not allow what most other metal subgenres do when it comes to a debut, but the overall musicianship on Thy Sanatorium is unexpected, to say the least. Then there’s also another quite important factor. No matter how good you may be individually, if you don’t bond well with the rest of the band, it will show. A detail like that can be heard, hands down, as things will start sounding forced and inorganic. See, and again, the band were created in 2025, and the glue that you hear on Thy Sanatorium for the first time tells you this is a band that’s been together for a few years now, and not just one year. Ever.
By the time you listen to it again, you start wondering if Thy Sanatorium aren’t Tier 1 pros, at least two or three out of the six of them, who decided to have a field day and explain to the common mortal man what symphonic black metal could be if properly played. Then there are the Venetian columbina masks that every single member uses, which are graceful and elegant, but also add to the mystery behind the band. The first track, “Torment”, is an omen of things to come. It starts moderately heavy and evolves into strong but not excessively fast-paced, professional rhythmic work, courtesy of Pyxis on drums, which intends to leave an impression instead of breaking the speed of light. An impression he leaves, especially when you understand that he’s making way for the arrival of Aries on guitar. Yes, this may sound silly or even a cliché, for in a classic sense the drums always support the guitar. But this is not support, no. This is Pyxis heralding the arrival of Aries. This is a statement to take heed of henceforth.
The solo on “Torment” is a greeting card, one that could read “Mr. Big Guns – Guitar Extraordinaire”. What we hear is nothing short of memorable: the piece is premeditated, not something that came out of thin air; it’s inspired, but not overly speedy or technically ostentatious, as it doesn’t need to shout out loud for us to realize how good its composer is. Aries is not a Mercedes-Benz owner who flaunts his car at every opportunity that he gets, but instead someone who leaves his Aston Martin at home and takes the tube to go to work. Or an Uber on occasion. In fewer words, Aries’ guitar work is the stuff of dreams, and he knows it, as we will acknowledge throughout the record. “The End Consumes” is next in line, and it introduces the female vocals of Crux on bass and vocals. Sadly, her vocal cords do not do the trick here; they’re a few notches below what one should expect in this genre, which demands interpreters like Birgit Zacher or Sarah Jezebel Diva for added value and drama.
It is, however, frankly paradoxical, almost as if we didn’t just hear the same singer on “Devil’s Heart” (track 4) or “Feed the Mirror” (track 6), where female voices shine and make both songs gain more depth. Of course, Mr. Big Guns’ erudite flamenco solo on “Devil’s Heart”, his picado reminiscent of Tárrega, is now an exercise in boasting, bless him. Last cheer must go to Remus on keys, who not only inserts smart, short elements in a bleak landscape, but also does not oversaturate the record with needless, exaggerated, pomp-and-circumstance synths. While the band define their sound as the previously mentioned symphonic black metal, Thy Sanatorium is an extreme metal album that drinks from the fountains of both Swedish melodic death metal and Northern black metal, Norway and Sweden, but also hints at Greek extreme metal at times. Bold, as it should be, it could have had a few edges smoothed, but one can’t expect much more from terrific players overall in such a short period.
Bottom line, with enough dedication to Thy Sanatorium, the band can become not just great, but actually prominent. There are bands that are predecessors to Thy Sanatorium, e.g. American masters Dragonlord, but they were treated as side projects. Thy Sanatorium deserves more than that.
