SANHEDRIN
“Heat Lightning”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Sanhedrin are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 2015, releasing four albums to date – ‘A Funeral For The World’ (2017), ‘The Poisoner’ (2019), ‘Lights On’ (2022) and ‘Heat Lightning’…

…emerging in 2025 featuring nine songs across forty four hard rocking heavy metal minutes – the band delivering a stunning mix of metal and rock! And immensely infectious too, the album slow burning into life with ‘Blind Wolf’, for all of the first forty seconds or so as an electrifying turn of speed sees the band hurtle off at a phenomenal pace! Sanhedrin are scorching the earth here, ‘Blind Wolf’ bristling with the iconic metal gallop as the American metallers delight every listener, fan and follower around the world – the title song ‘Heat Lightning’ maintaining the albums sensational start! Has the mix of metal and rock ever sounded so good? Of course it has, but in the hands of Sanhedrin it’s sounding even better, the sultry vocals of lead singer Erica Stoltz melting the hearts of millions of metalheads everywhere – including me! The New York three piece have been on fire across the albums opening brace, the band increasing the heat as ‘Above The Law’ storms in at a hundred fucking miles an hour, the urgency, pace and power increasing too! And the level of head bang ability has just shot through the roof, Sanhedrin delivering a chant style chorus that everyone is gonna sing along to! And I mean everyone!

The momentum gathered over the opening threesome is all conquering, ‘Heat Lightning’ (the album) marching on with the old school sounding ‘The Fight Of Your Life’ – so old school sounding it’s boasting a sound that was prevalent during metal’s formative years during the early eighties when bands such as Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Raven and Samson were leading the heavy metal revolution, spearheading the legendary NWOBHM movement…a movement that spawned generations of new metal bands – and not just in the UK, the NWOBHM sound travelling overseas to inspire millions of musicians in every country of the world to grow and expand heavy metal music, Sanhedrin one of the newer, more recent bands to maintain metals incredible legacy. And talking of incredible – the ‘Maiden-esque intro to ‘King Of Tides’ is fucking epic, the reined in power palpable, the band letting it all run loose after one and a half minutes to shudder the ground with savage intent! The heaviness here is heavier than the heaviest thing you can think of, ‘King Of Tides’ displaying a jaw dropping mid tempo anthemic, doom, groove, heavy/power metal mix! The albums centrepiece by the proverbial country mile, ‘Heat Lightning’ (the album) turns on its heels to race off at blistering speed courtesy of ‘Franklin County Line’ – the level of head bang ability rising higher than ever as the band leave every listener gasping for breath! Doctor, doctor, can I get some oxygen!

And even though ‘Let’s Spill Some Blood’ has the most aggressive title of any song on offer, it’s actually the most melodious heard so far, the buzzing guitars making me go weak at the knees! You too I’ll wager, for Sanhedrin are once again rocking the delightful eighties metal and rock mix that was such a huge part of my childhood – I was a teenager during the eighties listening to the aforementioned Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Raven and Samson re-write and re-define heavy metal. And it was in 1980 when I first heard ‘Angel Witch’ by Angel Witch that my love affair with metal began – an affair that’s lasted forty four fantastic years! And is stronger now than ever before, especially with bands such as Sanhedrin around, my love affair ain’t ever gonna end – ‘High Threshold For Pain’ maintaining the immensely wide grin that’s adorned my face since the album began! The band are shuddering the ground harder than earlier too, planet Earth in grave danger of being shuddered into a new fucking orbit – a barnstorming album coming to an end with the longest song on offer ‘When The Will Becomes The Chain’. Clocking in at over seven minutes in length, ‘When The Will Becomes The Chain’ has it all – the bands (sort of) trademark metal and rock sound, tension, atmosphere, majesty and elegance, a stunning end to a stunning album.

Overall, a belter of an album featuring a heart melting mix of heavy metal and hard rock, ‘Heat Lightning’ is infectious, addictive and overly moreish.

TRACKLIST

Blind Wolf
Heat Lightning
Above The Law
The Fight Of Your Life
King Of Tides
Franklin County Line
Let’s Spill Some Blood
High Threshold For Pain
When The Will Becomes The Chain

https://www.sanhedrin.nyc/
https://thesanhedrin.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sanhedrinband

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