They want it all – now
To get a sense of the world-conquering scale of alt. metallers’ Sanguine’s ambition, you need only check out, the anthemic closing track on their highly impressive second album ‘Black Sheep’. Titled ‘Whole World’, it hears frontwoman Tarin purr “I want more, I want the whole world”. Sanguine have always dreamed big, and have already proven they possess the resources to realise their grand hopes. The Devon-based group’s early demos and self-recorded debut album won them the support of Joey Jordison, helped to secure a slot at Download festival, and introduced them to Maiden’s Adrian Smith, who then personally invited Tarin to lend her incredible voice to his Primal Rock Rebellion project.
Since starting work on ‘Black Sheep’ they’ve already had the opportunity to see a sizable chunk of the world. Recording took place at In Flames’ IF Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, and from there Sanguine travelled to Hard Rock Hell Ibiza, and on to Los Angeles, where they played a showcase event which ultimately led to them signing a deal with Leaders Group to release ‘Black Sheep’ in Japan. The next stop was Berlin, home of Odyssey Music, who will give the album a Europe-wide release on January 29th.
In both geographical and musical terms, ‘Black Sheep’ is a record that nimbly crosses borders. What has consistently stood Sanguine apart from the metal flock, and endeared them to audiences and taste makers the world over, is their inventive, unique take on the genre, and ability to draw from an astounding range of sources to create a sound which is both eclectic and highly distinctive. The band’s first professional studio recording, ‘Black Sheep’ is slicker than previous releases, but still uncompromising in its manic mixing of influences, ranging from the atmospherics of Massive Attack, to the rock dynamics of Faith No More, SOAD and Tool. Tarin explains, “we get bored easily, so we’re always looking for new styles to explore. As a musician you need to challenge yourself; it would be dull for us as a band to keep writing the same old songs, and I promise this album will not bore you!”.
Variety is something ‘Black Sheep’ has in spades, with Tarin’s instantly recognisable vocals providing the unifying thread to tie it all together, and her bandmates – guitarist Nick Magee, bassist Ross Andrew and drummer Matt Feld – displaying the technical range to navigate every twist and turn with confidence and conviction. At one end of the spectrum you’ll hear the dreamy, lighters aloft sway of ‘Whole World’, which reaches for the stadium stars with its lyrical ambition and anthemic hook. ‘Breathe In’, featuring In Flames’ Jesper Stromblad on guitar, then delivers a fragile and beautiful ballad. At the other extreme is ‘Empty’, a co-write with Stromblad, that contrasts stark walls of noise with passages of melody, and pits Tarin’s clean vocals against Nick’s growls. Then there’s the brutally heavy title track, which Tarin explains gives vent to the frustrations of being the ‘black sheep’ of a family she became estranged from at age 15, leading to a period of homelessness and rough sleeping in a stairwell.
The world-embracing scale of Sanguine’s ambition is all the more striking for the fact that the band are frequently coming from the perspective of the outsider. ‘Black Sheep’ is a record which offers something for every mood and every listener, while still being unmistakably the work of a highly singular group who’ve always operated outside of the herd. The title ‘Black Sheep’ suggested itself, perfectly summing up their experiences and outlook, and when the time came to create sleeve art for the release, the band received a gory sign they were on the right track.
At the time, guitarist Nick was working with vulnerable adults, helping them to obtain the correct benefits and settle in Britain. Amongst his clients was an ex-Maori tribesman, who insisted it would insult him not to offer some form of payment for the support he’d received. Having noticed the man wearing polished bone necklaces, Nick asked if he could give him a crash course in bone carving, and soon found an opportunity to put his new skills to the test, when he was walking on Dartmoor and discovered the carcass of a sheep. “I can’t really describe what it feels like to chisel the head of a dead sheep off the body, but er, yeah, that”, he grimaces. “I boiled it for three days in my garden, then I just pictured what I wanted to do and started to carve. We had already decided to call the album ‘Black Sheep’ at that point. It was a spooky coincidence that the skull I found was a sheep and not a cow or a pig or something”.
The intricate carving that resulted from this gruesome endeavour provides a perfect visual partner to the sounds of ‘Black Sheep’; an album which is by turns beautiful and visceral, bloody and optimistic, and which predicts a very bright future for Sanguine.
It’s released on January 29th
