SISTER SIN
TRUE SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND

It took me forever to get a copy of Sister Sin’s first release ‘Switchblade Serenade’ two years ago now but it was worth the wait, and this second album has been eagerly awaited in Chateau Rockpit ever since. Hailing from sunny Sweden, Sister Sin dishes up a sleazy style of metal that rocks you to the core.

Despite fears that they might turn all overproduced and slick-sounding like so many of their country-folk: they allay those concerns from the off with the fist-pumping title track.  This time around we get a real treat: an album of relentless energy and Crue-like sleazy metal zeal to pummel even the most cynical of listeners into submission. 

This is hard and uncompromising music, real metal with a punky edge and despite the obvious shot of Motley the album is less of an eighties throwback than could have been expected. It just sounds good, very good in fact and is a real progression from the rougher but still very enjoyable debut.

In Liv, Sister Sin has a real trump card:  a real front woman in the uncompromising Doro mould with a voice to destroy things with.

You will love the guitar sound and the relentless beat from the off and whilst there may not be anything here as immediate and as catchy as the debut’s standout ‘On Parole’ the album ends up being more pleasing as a whole and a great statement of intent.

Highlights on the first few listens are many but the standouts for me are the stomping ‘Outrage’ (probably my favourite at the moment); the speed-Motley riffage of ‘Better Than Them’; ‘Heading For Hell’; the catchy, sleazy hard rock of ‘Times Aren’t A-Changing’ and the flailing ‘Nailbiter’. The only disappointment, maybe is the UDO cover ‘24/7’.

No one can not like this album. The songs may be straight-forward and the construction occasionally naïve, but that is all part of the charm. Musicianship is top-notch too. Ballad-lovers need not apply though. 

The great news for our US friends is that the band will be supporting MSG over in the States this year. I am lucky enough to be there for that, it’s like waiting for Christmas, if Christmas was metal rather than tinsel…

Mark