Sister Sin-Switchblade Serenade

Victory
2008

I remember those days back in the mid-1980’s when hard rock and metal could sometimes blur together and the music was very straight forward and the lyrics may have been cheesy, but there so instantly likable. Sweden’s Sister Sin are very much from that school of metal as they openly embrace yet master this style. This album has the solid vocals, big rhythms, catchy choruses and ripping solos that you expect from this kind of metal. At several points during “Switchblade Serenade” I could close my eyes, soak in the music and it wasn’t too hard to imagine this album having been made in 1986 instead of 2008 and I mean that in a very positive way. Their approach is basic yet highly effective as they pound and smash their way through yet they never lose their grasp on creating a fairly true metal sound. I would say the influences here include, but are not limited to early Motley Crue, Motorhead, WASP and maybe even mid-80’s Accept. The have a great handle on the pace of almost every song and they seem to shoot out each song rather quickly as there is very little down time and virtually no fillers here. My only real problem was that all five tracks from their 2007 “Smash the silence” EP are on this CD and I played that disc to death months ago. So that was a little disappointing that I had already heard five of the elven tracks on this disc. Out of the other six tracks one is a cover of Motorhead’s “Make my day” and although it’s a barnstormer I still felt a little let down by only getting five new original songs. Yet this is still a fantastic, solid metal effort in a year where there have not been enough bands attempting this style.