Long Island’s Sanction are back with another EP, a follow-up of sorts to 2015’s With Blood Left Uncleansed. Sanction's newest release, The Infringement of God’s Plan, rocks with heaviness and metallic hardcore brutality. But there’s also a level of musicianship on the EP that is not to be discounted.
The EP’s second proper track, “Six Hundred Thirty One,” offers the listener grooving guitar rhythms laid over popping drum beats. The drums here add a great layer to the song. With a tight snare sound and appropriately placed double-bass beats, the drums bridge the driving metal-influenced guitars with David’s hyper-aggressive vocals. The song’s closure is extremely strong. There is a haunting guitar build that leads into a heavy but also interestingly melodic breakdown, largely due to the discordant guitar work again balanced with the drums.
Sanction’s frontman, David, draws on really assertive and punchy vocals. I was immediately reminded of Harvest and early Shai Hulud here. While he certainly screams and with great projection, David also doesn’t hide behind that. His lyrics are not particularly difficult to follow and he doesn’t fall into the drawled annunciation trap that so many others in the genre do. The EP’s title track shows some of his pliability here too. While he seems most comfortable with short blasts of screaming, David also shows that he can draw out the length of his screams on the song. This keeps his patterns in tune with the song's mid-tempo rhythms. But to be clear, the vocals are aggressive and at the forefront of the track, as they should be.
The EP’s strongest song is “The Prophet Who Saw Fire.” It opens at a frantic and choppy pace, working in all the aforementioned guitar and drum work. The start and stop rhythms throughout the song build great energy, and the vocals play off that really well. The guitars in particular though are really strong on this track. The balance between eerie rhythmic metal leads and just heavy brute force riffage make the song super lively. There's a heaviness in the song that isn't contrived or adolescent, it's full-bodied and forceful. And it makes for a great track.
The Infringement of God’s Plan is a very strong release for Sanction. Their musicianship is front and center, and showcases a band that knows itself well. The songs are well-written, heavy, catchy enough, and satiate any young hardcore kid’s desire to mosh. As a Long Island band, I think they've taken a page from Sky Came Falling with their musicianship. The EP has the power to have crossover appeal too. This isn’t a release to be pigeonholed. It offers something for any fan of heavy music.