Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned

"Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned" is the sophomore studio album by singer Violetta DiNozzo. The album was released on September 7th, 2009, becoming her breakthrough album spawning a number of gold and platinum hits for Violetta. A tour edition and accompanying single were released in August 2010, both of which went to #1, a career first for Violetta on both counts in the UK. In the US, the album was called "Sanctuary", since Epic Records did not like Violetta's chosen title. The American version was a condensed and heavily re-worked version of the full album.

Background & Recording
Violetta decided after writing, producing and releasing the song "Devil's Playground" with The Infinite that trance music was the direction she wanted to take herself in as an artist, and after taking personal time off to recover from facial reconstruction (caused by an incident at the URAPS Awards 16 where Phyllis Remington ate Violetta's face off) she set to work writing material for a new studio album. She enlisted the aid of notable trance producers for the project. Violetta's US label Epic had concerns that trance music would prove unmarketable in America so they set Violetta up with pop producers Max Martin and Guy Sigsworth to provide more pop-friendly material for the record. Not one to compromise her artistic vision Violetta opted to create a double album, with one disc containing the pop material from her studio sessions and the other disc to feature Violetta's trance output.

The lyrical output for the album took a very dark turn due to Violetta's desire to create dance music with deeper emotional depth than she felt the commercial club scene could provide. As such, Epic rejected the majority of Violetta's trance material, leading to them picking out songs for Violetta to record, such as a cover of "You Saved Me Tonight", a song previously released as an album track by Australian artist Anthony Callea. Epic demanded that the song was to be a duet, but Violetta only agreed to record the song if she got to choose who she sang with on the track. Epic allowed this compromise in order to have the track recorded, so in a move that did not sit well with the label, she chose emo-rocker Jace Clemson to appear on the track with her. Epic was dissatisfied with the results and tried to secure Taylor Wolfe to re-record Jace's vocals but Violetta refused. She later recorded the song "Superfabulous" with Taylor upon her label's insistence; the track would go on to feature on the US version of the album, and as the b-side for her UK single "Little Red Riding Hood / Weak & Powerless". The duet was going to be released as the second US single, but circumstances passed it over.

The pop material is an extension of the pop-rock sound Violetta first used on her debut album; it has been taken in a more electronic direction for this album and features darker, more mature lyrics from the singer, in heavy contrast to the teen-pop songs Violetta wrote for "Just Another Girl". Vocally, Violetta took a different approach to recording the album. Violetta claims that recording the first album was more about showing off her talents such as her ability to sing in the whistle register, her powerful belting range and the ability to pull off complicated melismas in the style of singers like Christina Aguilera. For "Sacred/Damned" Violetta chose instead to provide a vocal that connected more with the lyrics without relying so much on vocal tricks, although those can still be found on select tracks on the album. The song "A Million Pieces" (a cover of an Emmy Rossum album track) features the most complex vocal arrangement with Violetta individually recording over 100 vocal parts which were blended together to create a vocal soundscape. It was reportedly difficult for producer DJ Tiesto to find a balance between the vocals and his production that prevented one to overpower the other.

Violetta recorded new material for her third studio album which wound up unused when she changed the direction of her third album. This material was kept aside instead and released on a tour edition of "Blood Of The Sacred, Blood Of The Damned" to support her debut headlining tour, called the "Behind Enemy Lines" tour. Some of the new songs were self-penned, and there were some songs written by other artists, including a cover of "Murder" by Amy Pearson (Violetta would later interpolate Amy's song "Contagious" into her single "Contagion" on Violetta's third album). Violetta's cover of Idina Menzel's "Hope" was also put on the tracklisting due to its status as a single earlier the same year.

Collaborations
The album had been completed when Violetta's friend Danelle Becker returned to the scene to cause trouble with other acts, leading into a feud with newcomer Tynisha and brothers band the Blackened Gold Chariots. This led Violetta to approach Danelle with a potential duet which the pair would release as a single. Danelle agreed, and Violetta wrote the song "...And You Are?" for the girls to sing together. Danelle secured RedOne to produce the track; Violetta had reservations about working with the choice of producer although she was pleased with the result, and the single went on to be her second-highest peaking release to-date. Another song on the album, featured on the pop disc, features Danelle again alongside China and Syd Wolfe. Penned solo by Violetta, the song was kept well under wraps, with no demos or recordings from the vocal sessions leaking out. China features twice more on the record, on a remix of "Connect The Dots" which originally appeared on Violetta's debut album "Just Another Girl" and as the songwriter for the track "Little Red Riding Hood" which served as half of the official first single from the album. Syd Wolfe also has the writing credit for the song "Down Like That".

The song "You Saved Me Tonight" features guest vocals by Jace Clemson, who was hand-picked by Violetta herself much to her label's chagrine. For the tracks she worked on with Above & Beyond, Violetta work closely with the trance production team to find a balance between their uplifting productions and the darker sound Violetta was steering the album's direction in. Taylor Wolfe has guest vocals on the song "Superfabulous", which was chosen for the pair to sing together on after Violetta refused to allow his vocals on "You Saved Me Tonight". Violetta reportedly loved the song, but was still heavily opposed to her collaboration partner, and the vocal sessions did not run smoothly. After the sluggish start of "Little Red Riding Hood" in the US, Epic wanted to change the lead single to this song, but plans to release the song were delayed once complaint from Violetta jump-started "Little Red Riding Hood". It was going to be released as the second US single but radio stations passed it over for "Smash Some Windows" instead.

Violetta recorded the song "Socks" for her third album, written by Logan Cross and sold to her. Violetta changed her mind about the direction of her third album however, so she instead kept the song aside for her tour edition. Violetta recorded "Bang Bang (Baby's Going Down)" with Venus Vegas for Venus' sophomore album "Little By Little", but the album was shelved so Violetta put it on the tour edition of her own album. Kirby L. Avalon replaced Jace Clemson on "You Saved Me Tonight". The Esmeralda Dimuzio duet "I Didn't Mean It" was added onto the tour edition due to the song being a single.

Sanctuary (US Version)
The US version of the album is vastly different from the UK release; it has a different title and is a single disc; half of the tracks come from "Blood Of The Damned" and the other half come from "Blood Of The Sacred". Songs from the trance disc have been treated to pop remixes. The order which tracks appear in has been altered compared to the album's UK counterpart.

Differences with UK Version

 * The pop version of 'A Million Pieces' retains the entire vocals from the trance version, but has been transformed by StarGate into a mid-tempo piano-lite ballad emphasising the vocal parts.
 * The pop version of 'Beneath The Stars' is the least modified remix featured on the disc; the drum track has been replaced with a pop-friendly beat and guitars have been added to the mix.
 * 'Weak & Powerless' has been re-worked from a lite-trance ballad to an uptempo pop-rock song.
 * 'One Thing You Forgot' has been turned into an uptempo pop song with a four-to-the-floor beat and disco-lite influences reminiscent of 'Spotlight' by Jennifer Hudson.
 * 'End Of The World' replaces the synth backing music with a live orchestra, giving the song a more sombre ballad feel than the original trance version which is synth pad-driven.
 * The Tiesto remix of Connect The Dots is a bonus track only in the US.

Chart Performance
The album was a breakthrough success for Violetta in the UK, debuting at #3; a marked improvement on the peak position of her debut album. It debuted and peaked #4 in the US, also an improvement on her debut album's performance. The album was able to achieve platinum sales in the US and diamond sales in the UK, and then Violetta re-released the album in the UK to co-incide with her debut UK headlining tour. The tour edition took the album to #1, Violetta's first chart-topping album.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 1,551,301
 * Week 1: #3 - 73,971
 * Week 2: #5 - 80,542
 * Week 3: #10 - 38,400
 * Week 4: #13 - 35,799
 * Week 5: #15 - 40,192
 * Week 6: #15 - 28,809
 * Week 7: #19 - 14,784
 * Week 8: #22 - 15,606
 * Week 9: #21 - 15,993
 * Week 10: #23 - 15,606
 * Week 11: #24 - 15,993
 * Week 12: #29 - 15,759
 * Week 13: #30 - 13,612
 * Week 14: #5 - 71,608
 * Week 15: #7 - 89,176
 * Week 16: #6 - 62,549
 * Week 17: #11 - 59,101
 * Week 18: #15 - 33,878
 * Week 19: #18 - 24,912
 * Week 20: #19 - 34,114
 * Week 21: #24 - 27,217
 * Week 22: #12 - 35,799
 * Week 23: #3 - 62,633
 * Week 24: #7 - 45,979
 * Week 25: #11 - 35,799
 * Week 26: #19 - 16,667
 * Week 27: #23 - 15,102
 * Week 28: #29 - 10,101
 * Week 29: #31 - 8,738
 * Week 30: #25 - 12,764
 * Week 31: #23 - 13,238
 * Week 32: #21 - 13,238
 * Week 33: #16 - 19,039
 * Week 34: #2 - 76,631
 * Week 35: #5 - 59,876
 * Week 36: #10 - 47,208
 * Week 37: #26 - 14,349
 * Week 38: #28 - 11,304
 * Week 39: #36 - 5,788
 * Week 40: #40 - 4,398
 * Week 41: #1 - 75,687 (RE-ENTRY)
 * Week 42: #5 - 54,979
 * Week 43: #10 - 32,636
 * Week 44: #13 - 24,912
 * Week 45: #13 - 21,184
 * Week 46: #21 - 13,700
 * Week 47: #25 - 12,610
 * Week 48: #29 - 11,366
 * Week 49: #33 - 6,983
 * Week 50: #33 - 9,588
 * Week 51: #37 - 3,983