Review by Allan on October 30, 2002.

There are a handful of bands out there that defy categorization. To staple these bands to a genre would give them boundaries, and that would be an insult to their art. In The Woods is in that handful, ever since they released their landmark album “Omnio”. Two years after it’s release, In The Woods put out a follow-up to that album, “Strange In Stereo”. To be honest, “Strange In Stereo” isn’t as amazing as “Omnio”, but despite that, “Strange In Stereo” is still brilliant.

In The Woods logically progressed as a band after “Omnio”. They didn’t pull any Katatonia’s or Anathema’s on us by moving to a completely new sound, or one that is quite a distance away from their last effort. What they did was refine their system of writing, or the way they approached things, enough to give the listener something new to experience.

The songs themselves are still incredibly epic, but not completely relying on a huge sound to cause that effect. As before, In The Woods build their songs up slowly with different orchestration. However, the sound on “Strange In Stereo” is a lot more open usually. It doesn’t have some type of instrumentation going on in the background constantly from start to finish. The influence that this has on the music is that it makes it more haunting, as if something from the days of “Heart of the Ages” still lives on in the members.

The orchestration between stringed instruments, keyboards, and other common band instruments (including vocals) is again incredibly well done. There are some unbelievable hooks on this album that are located all over. The strings seem to not prevail as much, but then again they were never used tons in “Omnio” either. When they do make their way into the music, it creates a great atmosphere, as well as a beautiful sound to accompany the other instruments. Again, both the female and male vocals sound absolutely incredible. At times it seems as if their throats are just bleeding with emotion, not only during the more intense parts, but even the calmest ones. As before, both of them continue to share vocal duties fairly evenly, and even sing together at times. Their vocals are what clean vocals for dark metal should sound like.

Bottom Line: If you liked “Omnio" chances are that you’re going to enjoy “Strange In Stereo”. It has qualities that “Omnio” doesn’t, and even though it might not be as good as it, it is still an album that challenges the listener, making it something that can be enjoyed again and again.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 10
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 13, 2022.

Friends of the noble drop, drink up quickly. Here comes Sanctuary and Warrel Dane (R.I.P.) definitely has the power to make all glasses burst post-mortem. His high-pitched screams move to dizzying heights, but his performance can also satisfy those of you who prefer a more male voice. Warrel managed a broad range masterly and without him, Sanctuary would definitely have been a completely different band. But I don’t want to speak about imaginery vision, let’s talk about Sanctuary in the form in which they really existed.

The world was still relatively simple in 1988. There were no 2,000 telephone tariffs, no myriads of streaming services and if the Russians were at war, it was only at the ass of the world, also known as Afghanistan. And in metal, there was only posers and thrashers, right? This was what I thought when I saw the Repka artwork, the sticker “produced by Dave Mustaine” and song titles like “Battle Angels” or “Die for My Sins”. Well, Sanctuary did not belong to the posers, but they brought many shades of grey into my polarizing imagination. “Refuge Denied” is vigorously produced, does not lack depth, boasts with power and has some speedy, very intensive parts. But it also full of melancholic sequences that speak another language. The dramatic cover “White Rabbit” emphasises this facet of Sanctuary very well, but don’t think you get a flabby piece of music. Instead, the band combines sad, desperate undertones very competently with its doubtlessly heavy musical approach.

Speaking of their way of proceeding, Sanctuary connect slightly bulky, riffing (which is never driven by commercial intentions) with excellent lines that create a captivating flow. “Refuge Denied” is free from lukewarm pieces whose only function is to explain us that life isn’t always a bed of roses. Instead, the songs have character and their individuality shimmers through the notes, although the album does not suffer from heterogeneity. One of the highlights is “Termination Force”. Its lamenting guitar at the beginning lays a false trail which, at the latest, the mega-intense chorus hammers into your skull. But despite its sometimes hammering sections, this extremely mature debut does not focus on violence in any way. The basic vibes of “Refuge Denied” are formed by its dark elegance and its somehow mysterious fatalism. And another attribute comes to my mind, not only because of the record label: epic. I cannot describe a song like “Soldiers of Steel” without using this word. It’s heavy, majestic and eerie, traditional on the one hand, but pretty complex on the other hand – and all this without any inner contradiction.

I already said that the album profits from a vigorous production, but I want to go a step further. For me, who never liked Megadeth very much (some of the early songs are okay, but the rest…), it seems that Dave Mustaine never made a better contribution to metal than he did with this producer job. The mix is not overly clean, but it lends the songs such a full sound that I am really impressed. Everything appears unbelievably tight and makes jewels like the band anthem “Sanctuary” or the daring “Ascension Destiny” to real monsters. No doubt, the five-piece made an enormous statement at this stage of its career and when we look back today and see how history has continued... well, it could have been better. Especially for Warrel Dane. Thank God, at least his vocals live on.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10