Premiere Stream: 'Made Wrong', The New EP From Sanctum & Solace

22 February 2018 | 2:36 pm | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

Come on in and check out Sanctum & Solace's killer new EP, 'Made Wrong', a day early! 

Come on in and check out Sanctum & Solace's killer new EP, 'Made Wrong', a day early! 



Sounding not too far away from their Queensland peers in She Cries Wolf, Vitals, Deadlights (just minus the cleans), Sanctum & Solace's brand new EP is one heavy listen, to say the very least. While not sonically the heaviest band you're likely to hear today, what makes their newest release, the 'Made Wrong' EP, such a powerful release are the incredibly pained lyrics, insanely raw hardcore sounds heard throughout, and the brutally heavy themes on offer - mental illnesses, depression, heartbreak, love loss, hopelessness, tiredness, alcoholism, addiction and self-loathing. It can be quite uncomfortable to listen to, but I suppose that's what real art has to offer. That's also what makes Sanctum & Solace so damned good!

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Mixed and mastered by Gareth Hargreaves at Tall Tree Studios and fittingly tracked live to capture the band's high-octane energy, 'Made Wrong' is six-tracks of a mental breakdown being written down, cut to tape, packaged strongly, and delivered with plenty of instrumental chaos, emotional rage, lyrical vitriol, and burning riffs. The caustic screams, semi-melodic vocals and highly memorable refrains in '1096'; the driving, furious one-two-punch of the EP's 30-second intro and second song 'Slave'; the dynamic instrumental runs and softer vocal passages in 'The Keeper'; the full-on aggressive hardcore nature of 'Taedium Vitae'; the harrowingly heavy and dissonant grooves of the EP's longest track, closer 'Social Suicide' - this is one really solid release overall. And one that will hopefully secure this Mackay outfit plenty of attention in the local heavy music scene as it's fucking great.

Funnily enough, the moniker of this Queensland group seems like the mission statement of ‘Made Wrong’ and their music overall. For this new six-track release seems like an attempt for the band to find some form of mental sanctum and emotional solace from the very creation of this release. This is an emotionally ugly and personally unflinching hardcore release - an expose of pain and torture from the hands of others and from your own actions - and that’s all the better for it, truth be told. While the band’s business alone, whether they find any comfort or catharsis through these new songs remains to be seen. Of course, much like No Country For Old Men or even Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, often times there isn't  closure come the end's arrival. Because that’s the real kicker in life sometimes: sometimes you just don’t get the ending you hoped for, you just get an end.

Be sure to stream 'Made Wrong' in full below. Maybe you'll love it just as much as I do.



‘Made Wrong’ is out Friday, February 23rd.