Any week I get to review a Dying Victims Productions release is a good week. A week in which I get to review two DVP releases? Now, that’s a GREAT week! Admittedly, I’m still riding that adrenaline rush of Mean Mistreater’s Do or Die, so my standards for today’s album in review, Sinner Rage’s Powerstrike, is rather high. That said, I’m struggling to think of an album from this boutique label that can even be labeled mediocre, let alone a flat out disappointment. See Blayne from BangerTV! You’re not alone in your DVP fandom!
So who on earth is Sinner Rage? Well, they’re a brand spanking new hard and heavy outfit hailing from Spain. How new? They formed in 2023, released a two song demo in 2024, and are now staking their claim amidst a crowded traditional metal playing field in 2025 with their debut album, Powerstrike. If nothing else, you gotta hand it to them for their go-getter work ethic. Clearly DVP wouldn’t even bother with them in the first place if they didn’t feel they could deliver. Yet while Sinner Rage pride themselves on delivering “progressive heavy metal in the ’80s tradition” (their words, not mine), I’m struggling to hear the prog on Powerstrike. Rather I’m picking up no frills ’80s metal traditionalism, with sporadic hard rock forays throughout.
The album’s opening title track comes roaring out of the stereo with the ferocity and conviction of Lovedrive era Scorpions, which is only further strengthened by the vocals Aritz Martínez. Not only does Martínez’s vocals possess the range and emotion of a young Klaus Meine, but his thick Spanish accent adds an “exotic” flair that gets gringos like me all excited. Moving onward, the A side of this affair is loaded with dynamism, ranging from the swaggering street metal of “Silent Thunder” and freewheeling hard rock of “Highway Knights”, to the impassioned metallized AOR of “Chained by Night”.
Powerstrike‘s latter half is where things get, er, dare I say one-dimensional? “Fire’s On”, “Angel of Combustion”, and “Call of the Wind” all follow the same Michael Schenker helmed Scorps meets early Enforcer formula. They’re fast and fiery, yet without ever passing the threshold of proper speed metal, save for perhaps “Angel of Combustion”, which pushes the speedometer to overdrive. The cool as the L.A. wind glam metal of “Dangerous Attraction” brings this retro affair to a sleazy and breezy close, and leaves us wondering what this band could do with spandex garb and a can of Aqua Net.
As textbook as the headbangers on Powerstrike come across, the album as a whole is still a premium cut above the mediocrity that overwhelms the traditional metal scene today, the playing field being fairly evened by high spirited hard rockers. I might even go so far to say they do “hard” better than “heavy”. Again, how they’ll expand upon this approach remains to be seen (or rather heard), but for a debut effort, Powerstrike sure lives up to its moniker. Fly on you spunky Spaniards, fly on!
7 out of 10
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Scorpions, Enforcer, Striker
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