Artist: Sinner
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 2/25/03
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Title: There Will Be Execution Artist: Sinner Label: Nuclear Blast Release Date: 2/25/03 |
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Abyss's Review:
Sinner is a German band that have been around forever, and I personally couldn't have cared less. Simply put, what little I've heard in the past gave me little incentive to get further involved with the band. Not that I thought it was all that terrible, it just never grabbed my attention. Well, now they've been thrust into my consciousness, and since I could no longer ignore them, I began my first focused attention on the band.
"I was getting ready to consider this album a throwaway until I got about five listens into it." To be honest, despite my attempts to go into this disc with an open mind, I still don't dig them that much. Their sound is undeniably retro, traditional, mid-paced heavy metal that is strongly influenced by the NWOBHM. The vocals are okay, but monotonous, and the riffs are solid, but not extraordinary. Further causing me anxiety are the silly lyrics, quite evident on songs like "Die on Command", "Locked & Loaded", and "Liberty of Death".
I was getting ready to consider this album a throwaway until I got about five listens into it. Granted it was still nothing I would ever highly recommend, but I felt I was beginning to appreciate it more for what it was, at least to some extent. The title track, especially, started embedding its chorus into my brain, and little by little chipping away my resolve to completely slag the album. A few other songs began returning to my sub-conscious again and again as well. And while there's usually some cheesy part to ruin each individual song, I found myself convinced that this album was far from worthless.
"The title track started... chipping away my resolve to completely slag the album." The make or break point for many may be the ballad "The River", which, while a little hard to take, is not nearly the travesty that "All For You" was for Motorhead (remember that song off Rock and Roll? What the hell was he thinking!?! I can't help a guffaw every time I think of it.) End result is that this album is still way too backward looking for me, but I would think that Sinner fans would really enjoy it. One word review: Okay.
Death's Review:
Sure, I'll give it up for those die-hard few who are still churning out a "classic" sound despite having little to no relevance in the modern age. And, as always, I respect the veteran acts that have kept our scene alive all of these years despite the ups and mostly downs of the heavy metal sound vis- á-vis commercial popularity. Still, the new Sinner album, There Will Be Execution, pretty much sucks. Not because it is poorly executed or poorly produced, but because the songs are so outdated, so generic and so fucking cheesy that I literally can't stand listening to them one second longer.
"The songs are so outdated, so generic and so fucking cheesy that I literally can't stand listening to them one second longer." Sinner are the type of band that if my buddy was in them and he gave me the demo I'd be loathe to try to pass it on to a friend at a label because I'd be sure they'd laugh at me upon hearing it and I'd be afraid my endorsement would destroy my credibility with that label in the future. I'd be absolutely sure that this band could never get signed in 2003, at least not in the U.S. In fact, I'm sure that one of things that actually makes Sinner slightly interesting is that they not only may be exactly the opposite of the current definition of "hip" as employed by radio, MTV and the major U.S. music labels; the same is probably true of the metal indie scene in the U.S. too. Grind, death, metalcore - even prog or more straight ahead power metal all have the potential for further commercial mileage than does this "traditional" styled stuff. The big problem is that, not only does this stuff sound dated, it is also cheesy. Even back in the day when Manowar was following in the footsteps of Dio, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, this would have been way to cheesy sounding to ever find its way into my player. Not glam enough for the Poison fans, not tough enough for Saxon fans (although Sinner drummer Fritz Randow apparently played in Saxon), not catchy enough for the Crüe-heads, not smooth enough for Dokken fans, not bluesy enough for Whitesnake fans, not hard enough for Accept fans, not powerful enough for the Manowar fans, not serious enough for fans of Maiden and Priest, not emotional enough or sappy enough for power-ballad era Scorpions fans, not down and dirty enough for the Guns N Roses crowd, Sinner take all of the traditional elements of these bands and suck the substance, the creativity and originality out of each of them.
So what the hell are Sinner still doing around and signed to a currently "hip" label (In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah, heck, even Hammerfall) like Nuclear Blast? One word: Germany. Lest we never forget, Nuclear Blast is at core a German record label, and in Germany, this stuff apparently sells like hotcakes (do hotcakes really sell that well? I guess I should use a better analogy - this stuff sells like acid tabs at a Phish concert or like crack in inner city Baltimore or something like that). And Sinner are like a lesser child of German bands Primal Fear and Grave Digger. Apparently, a certain segment of the German metalhead population just eats this stuff up. And I like Primal Fear, but (vocalist and bassist) Mat Sinner is no Ralf Scheepers. His voice just doesn't have the power and the range.
"So what the hell are Sinner still doing around and signed to a currently "hip" label like Nuclear Blast? One word: Germany." Sinner has been successful in Germany and has played Wacken and toured with Deep Purple in recent years. Their albums have charted in the German top 100. Clearly some people (probably all in Germany) are into this shit. So for those of you who think that mixing Judas Priest's Painkiller album with Accept, Helloween and Primal Fear and then upping the cheese factor 300% sounds like a good idea, you might like Sinner. I, for the most part, do not. I'll root for them, mostly because they are undoubtedly "metal," and precisely because they are so unhip. But I could never in good faith recommend them to you.
Hel's Review:
Here's the thing about Sinner - they play a particular style of metal that seems to have fallen from grace. The sound is dated to some, classic to others, and terrible for a few. I tend to fall into the "dated" category. Back in the days when Sinner was a fledgling band, their sound fresh and new, I probably would have been psyched over their music, but it's simply not what I'm looking for in 2003.
"Here's the thing about Sinner - they play a particular style of metal that seems to have fallen from grace."
"That said, I really have no other issues with this record." That said, I really have no other issues with this record. It is classic Sinner in many ways, and their chops have been admirably maintained over the years. If you put yourself into a mindset that embraces their sound, then they are truly an excellent band who has produced another amazing album.
My personal dilemma is this: were I to score the record on "for what it is" merit, then I would certainly not hesitate to hand it a four, but were I to use a "how much I enjoyed it" scale, the result is a bit lower. So, while I may drop a skull in concession to my personal tastes, in many ways it is less than they deserve. I firmly believe the right thing for a metal band to do is what they feel in their hearts, and there is no questioning what is in the hearts of Sinner. Stay true.
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