Sarasin A.D. - Daggers, Lust, Disgust

Self-produced
2008

Sarasin A.D. (known simply as Sarasin in North America are a hard rock band of veteran musicians. Vocalist Phil Naro has contributed writing for Coney Hatch, Peter Chriss, Lee Aaron and others. The opener "In America" comes on sounding like a cross between AC/DC and Fastway with a decent enough groove going. The second track "No sensation" sounded like an early Iron Maiden riff turned into a hard rock song, not as killer as Maiden of course yet a decent track. So right away they pull from different influences and that trend continues throughout the album. Unfortunately these were likely the two best songs on the entire album. Despite the different band influences, these guys pull from two general styles. One is hard rock from say around 1982-1986 and the other is some more modern heavy rock sounds. The modern sounds don't work very well for this guys because it's slightly toned down and they sound uncomfortable doing it like they feel they have to do it rather than doing it by choice. The hard rock tracks (other than the first two) are alright, but just rather lackluster and you likely heard a whole lot more talented bands playing the same thing with a lot more fire over twenty years ago. It's okay to be inspired by a sound from the past, but you have to either add something of your own or really be on fire. Even die hard fans of this era don't or shouldn't want to hear second rate material played in a lukewarm fashion. All in all we get a rather average album here that really doesn't do enough to trigger any really emotions good or bad.