Okay, anyone who knows me well knows damn well that I consider this to be my favorite metal album of the year 2000, so a little bias may creep in here and there. Anyway, for those of you for are not yet familiar with the band (your day of enlightenment will come...) Sinner have been around for about twenty years (and at least ten albums, depending on how you count 'em), causing quite a stir in their native Germany, but receiving scant attention on these shores. Anyway, "The End of Sanctuary" is fairly heavy, often fast-paced, and laced with generous helpings of beautifully well-executed harmony guitars and atmospheric keyboard touches. The result is a combination of melody, power and professionalism seldom heard from a modern metal band. Cuts such as "The Prophecy," "Congress of Deceit" and the chugging lead-off tune "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" are rendered sturdy and distinctive by absolutely top-notch playing all around, particularly in the skillful dueling guitars of Alex Beyrodt and Henny Wolter. Elsewhere, we also get a couple of nice long, emotive epic tracks that showcase frank Roessler's pristine, almost orchestral-sounding keyboards. The overall feeling of the album is slick, smooth, exuberant and tasteful, with a nod to many classic rock and metal acts, most notably Thin Lizzy, whose influence is made abundantly clear by the aforementioned harmony guitars, which are all over the place on "The End of Sanctuary" (much to my delight- I can't get enough of 'em). Man, all I can say is I've just got to hand it to Mat Sinner and Company. They've managed to bring the long-forgotten art of complex, melodic hard rock into the 21st century and put their own stamp on it. Good job, fellas.