adg211288 Refuge Denied (1987) is the debut full-length studio album by US power/traditional/thrash metal act Sanctuary. These days Sanctuary is probably better known as the previous (and recently reactivated) band of Nevermore's Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard, which is a shame, because at least in my opinion Sanctuary is the stronger outfit. It's all a matter of taste of course though. Refuge Denied was produced by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine, who also gets a guest slot on the album.

If there's one thing I see people complain about Refuge Denied, it's Mustaine's production work. I'm not sure I understand what the problem is though, as it seems fairly standard for the genre in question which is the US style of power metal. We're talking strong traditional heavy metal roots compared to the more speed metal influenced European power metal style that was starting to emerge around the same time with Germany's Helloween, as well as quite the thrashy edge. Warrel Dane's vocals on the album are very much in the high register most of the time. It's a singing style that is very much in your face and full of power. Sure, I guess Mustaine's production may seem a little rough and under-polished if you're more used to European power metal, but for a USPM record, this works for me.

The album is not overly long, falling just shy of the forty minute mark with a total of nine tracks. Eight of the tracks are Sanctuary originals while track six is a cover. The cover, which is the track with Dave Mustaine playing guitar, is one of the more unusual choices for a metal artist to record in my experience, being of White Rabbit by US psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane. While I can't say I'm a major fan of the original band I do love White Rabbit. It's a classic and something quite far removed from Sanctuary's style. My initial thoughts were that it was going to suck. I couldn't have been more wrong. Sanctuary really make the song their own and it fits in with their original material perfectly. Speaking of which they serve up eight great originals here too. My personal favourites would have to be Termination Force and The Third War, but there are no letups during the album, even when it goes into a slower section such as White Rabbit. Simply put Refuge Denied is exactly like classic USPM should sound like. It's really, really powerful and energetic stuff, not to mention addictive. Every time it ends I want to start it all over again. That's the sign of a truly high class album in my opinion. 5 stars.

UMUR "Refuge Denied" is the debut full-length studio album by US power metal act Sanctuary. The album was released in 1987 by Epic Records. "Refuge Denied" was produced by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine which probably helped Sanctuary to get more attention. To my great surprise the album has sold more than 300.000 copies worldwide. I guess it puts in perspective the popularity of Sanctuary in the late eighties/ early nineties.

The music on the album is a combination of US power metal and melodic thrash metal. Sort of like blending the sound of Savatage and Megadeth. The band are obviously very skilled musicians and the high pitched screaming vocals by Warrel Dane are strong and distinct sounding. For such a young singer he sounds surprisingly confident. His vocals can be a bit hard on the ears after a while though but that also has much to do with how the vocals are produced. There´s a reverb laden and hard sound to them that sounds a bit unpleasant at times.

The album features 9 tracks distributed over a 40 minute playing time. There are 8 original tracks on the album and a cover of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. The latter really isn´t anything special and I´d actually say it´s the least interesting track on the album. Thankfully the original tracks are better and tracks like "Battle Angels" and "Termination Force" show lot of promise. Generally the songs lack a bit in the songwriting department though and it´s not many songs I remember after the album has finished. A few more recognisable hooks would have helped IMO.

I´ve read a lot of reviews of this album over the years and most of them mention Dave Mustaine´s production as a weak point. After listening to the first song on the album I wasn´t sure why people reacted so strongly on how the album sounded, but after the album ends, it´s become quite apparent. The production is rather weak sounding and absolutely doesn´t do the songs any favours. The guitars have a scratchy weak sound to them, the drums lack power and I´ve already mentioned the at times unpleasant vocal production.

"Refuge Denied" is not an excellent album by any means but despite a lot of obvious flaws, it´s still quite a decent debut album and a 3 star rating is deserved.