Sanctorium is symphonic metal band with male and female vocals from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Fans of dark music appreciate the contrast between memorable cold female voice and a colorful male death metal growls, and also mix of heavy guitar riffs with exquisite keyboards (classic of the genre), symphonic arrangements and the general atmosphere of the songs. Musicians take their inspiration in different mythologies, legends, history of ancient civilizations, mysticism and philosophy, which is reflected in English texts-paintings, painted in deep colors. History of Sanctorium began in the summer of 2005 when guitarist Victor and drummer Andrew, who had already played together, decided to form a new band. At the same time, their classmates, bassist Vladimir and violinist Sergei, joined them. Since mid-September 2005 the band started rehearsing in this line-up. After rhythm section rehearsals, the band felt the need in vocals and keyboards, and in November they were joined by vocalist Daria (Eirene) and keyboardist Catherine. At the same time, the name of the band was finally selected. In the end of March 2006, the band began to record their home demo. A month later, a four-track demo was completed, and the group began to think about live performances. The first concert Sanctorium took part was at Legend club on May 12, 2006, after which they decided to take a second guitarist, Roman. In the next several years, the band replaced more than half of its members: guitarists, bassists, keyboardists. The reasons were both personal and professional. In 2008, the band finished recording their debut EP “Gate of Sin” at the studio Egorov with Vladimir Mehnin as sound producer. Sharing a stage with the band Sirenia at Point club in Moscow stands out as one of the main achievements of 2009. After that the band decided to dismiss members and to make full reorganization. Only in 2012, the newborn Sanctorium appeared on stage again with new members playing the old songs and writing new ones and also recording the first full-length album. In 2013, the band won the title Discovery of 2012 at the Russian Symphonic and Opera Metal Awards, and in April 2013 they played with Xandria on a concert in Saint Petersburg. At 8th February 2014 Sanctorium finally released their debut album «The Depths Inside» on Gravitator Records (Moscow). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.