Sanctuary - Into The Mirror Black

This was such a refreshing album, so much more melodic then the rest of the thrash band at the time, maybe moving towards progressive, and opening that scene a bit more, for bands to come. producing from Dave Mustain, vocals from Dane, guitar playing from Jeff...and the rest of the band, is exquisite. The album has such power, depth from the lyrics, arrangement, composing to all the songs on it, there is not a single song on this album that let's you down and it's not in the same quality way as the rest of them. This is must have album for every metal-head. They didn't last long which is such a shame, I was expecting a lot more of them....and Nevermore today is just a pale image of Sanctuary.

Argh!!i want this album so bad..mine hv lost!!warel dane u the best man i luv u..nevermore suck!!

Amazing amazing album,I like it so much one of the best metal albums of all time,
can't wait the new one,this album is a dream come true my friends.

That's awesome . i would rate it 10

What a great album. Good thing Warrel Dane stopped trying to sound like Rob Halford because it's the main reason I didn't enjoy Refuge Denied as much as this one.

11 votes to be in top 200!

As of today, the album now has enough votes to be in the top 200!

Good shit. Extremely innovative for its time. I want to say it's like Nevermore fused with power metal but that feels so wrong considering that Sanctuary came first. Rather, Nevermore is Sanctuary without the power metal influences.

What will happen if I remove my vote? :p

Edit: Uhmm nothing it seems.

I heard Nevermore long before Sanctuary and expected something sounding like Nevermore before they had found their sound.... On the contrary, this album stands with the best Nevermore ever did, if not better than anything they've done.

The one minor complaint is the mix is kind of meh, not a lot of oomph to it - which isn't all that uncommon for 80's/early 90's stuff. It's not a bad mix, just not one that has the kind of force behind it that has come with a lot of releases since. But hey, on the other hand it isn't one of the newer releases that is way too loud, so.... could be worse. Still, I wouldn't mind a remix if we're ever so lucky.

That said, if you even like Nevermore a little bit, or if you want to hear what power metal actually can be when it's done right, you need to hear this album. It's really, really good.

Simply one of the finest metal records ever created. It was important to me when it was released, and all this time later I still dust it off for 3 or 4 listens a year.

One of greatest bands ever in a genre and in all metal, this is school album to tecah other bands how compose metal music. New bands comes, but we cant have so heavy albums nowadays, quastions is why?

Re-listening after quite a long time. Timeless piece of work, never gets old.

Written by John_Doe on 10.11.2020 at 23:57

Re-listening after quite a long time. Timeless piece of work, never gets old.

Re-listening (yesterday) after not so long time. Timeless piece of work, never gets old.

Such a brilliant album! A perfect blend of old school thrash, mixed with US Power Metal, with some of the most incredible and headbangable riffs in metal, with lyrics that are meaningful, and the vocals are on top form, sounding very similar to Rob Halford in parts, more importantly it's very consistent, with no skippable tracks, and right from the start Future Tense, which is one hell of a good song! And it doesn't stop there, the quality never shy's away, it's definitely up there with one of the most enjoyable slums I've ever listened to. 🤘🤘

Although I am struggling to decide whether this album should belong in my Power Metal list or Thrash Metal list 😞

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 16.08.2021 at 21:18


Although I am struggling to decide whether this album should belong in my Power Metal list or Thrash Metal list 😞

could be in a thrash list, but it belongs best on a US Power list.

Written by John_Doe on 16.08.2021 at 21:22


could be in a thrash list, but it belongs best on a US Power list.

Iced Earth are on my Power Metal list, and they are US Power, so I've added this album to the list also, it's just US Power Metal differs quite alot from European.

It must have been 20 years since I first listened to this album and I feel it's only gotten better with time. I remember reading that Warrel Dane's previous high pitched screams went little too extreme and caused him to tone them down here, which actually sounds way better in my ears. Add in improved musicianship, songwriting and production and you've got a great progressive US power metal album.

Not a genre I visit often, but seeing all of the positive comments and ratings made me dive in. Great release. Very well mixed and mastered for the time, and of course great vocal work. Nice album for sure.

I can´t count the times Future Tense and Taste Revenge were played at Rock Fabrik Ludwigsburg by Sacred Steels Matze at the small club. But I was there every time and I enjoyed it every time!

I still prefere the debut a bit more, but of course this is a masterpiece in Power Metal!

All killers - no fillers!