Although merely a cult name outside of their native Germany, Sinner has long been a staple of the Teutonic metal scene. Founded in 1980 by bassist, singer, and namesake Mat Sinner, the band has released a slew of albums over the past 40 years that run the traditional metal gamut. Guitarist Tom Naumann would join forces with Sinner in 1990, with the two forming the core of the band’s songwriting team for every release since. More than a partnership, it’s a brotherhood; one that would extend into power metallers Primal Fear. On that note, the most surprising thing about the band’s latest effort, Brotherhood, is that it took this long to release a Sinner album with such a name.
Joining Sinner and Naumann on this release is drummer and Sinner’s Voodoo Circle bandmate Markus Kullman, guitarist Alex Scholpp, and vocalists Sascha Krebs and Giorgia Colleluori. Now I’m not sure how needed 2 singers are in a band of Sinner’s nature, let alone 3, but for what it is, it works. This seems to be a phenomenon among modern acts who dominate the euro festival circuit (i.e. Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, etc.) Again, I don’t know how this applies to a classic 80s metal band, unless it’s their way of keeping up to date with the current scene, but I digress.
Modernity hasn’t only seeped into Sinner’s band format, but also their sound…sort of. Granted, I haven’t listened to their past few releases, so I’m only gauging this off what I know (the 80s output and various 2000s outings). Brotherhood definitely has a new school meets old school feel, similar to Accept’s post-reunion efforts. And on the cuts that put the classic elements first, Sinner delivers some pretty compelling straightforward metal. Whether it be the powerfully fast “Bulletproof”, mega melodic “Reach Out”, aggressively energetic “Gravity”, or no frills “The Rocker Rides Away”, Sinner pays throws some heavy bones to the denim and leather clad faithful.
Unfortunately, Brotherhood‘s problems lie within the songwriting, production, and execution of roughly half of its songs. There isn’t anything blatantly “bad” about the pop tinged title track, overblown symphonic metal of “The Last Generation” and “The Man They Couldn’t Hang”, or middle of the road modernism of “Refuse to Surrender” and “My Scars”. They’re just clichés that have since become the norm for these Wacken type metal bands. If I want to listen to repetitive chug riffs with zero emotion, I’ll listen to Black Label Society, not Sinner. If I want to listen to pretentious symphonic metal, I’ll listen to *insert female fronted act here*, not Sinner.
I get it. As these bands get older, they want to stay “up to date” with the “cool kids”. Newsflash: The “cool kids” are usually never cool and what’s “up to date” is seldom worthwhile. Primal Fear doesn’t face this problem, as they’ve played the same euro power metal that launched them to global acclaim from day one. Nor does Voodoo Circle, whose sweaty amalgamation of Deep Purple meets Whitesnake hard rock has made them a favorite amongst old schoolers. It’s just Sinner, who hopefully come next release realizes it’s better to be Wild ‘n’ Evil than tame ‘n’ good.
5 out of 10
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Accept, Victory, Judas Priest