Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Sinner
Label: AFM Records
Release date: May 31, 2017
Runtime: 39:15
Rating: 3.5/5
Mathias Lasch, known by his stage name Mat Sinner, is one of those so-called gurus and gray eminences of the German metal and rock scene, whose moves have always had a major influence on the shifts shaping the profile of European metal, especially in power metal, and over the last decade in hard rock and (yes, really) even melodic rock. Yet his home band is, at its core, a heavy rock and hard rock outfit.
Between 1996 and 2003, Sinner did weigh their sound down with a hefty load of distorted decibels, which won them over heavy metal fans too. So »Nature of Evil« (1998), in this long-lived band’s long and rich discography, is an album with a special sheen that Sinner will surely never repeat. Not that they couldn’t. They just don’t want to. Over the last decade they’ve gone strictly back to their roots: a very elemental style of heavy rock to hard rock, heavily inspired by Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynott. Mat Sinner has never hidden or denied those sympathies. That’s just how it is, how it was, and how it stays. Why? Because he can. Even returnee Tom Naumann on guitar, who played in the band’s heavy metal era and with whom Mat Sinner buried the hatchet a while back, can’t, for all his usual brilliance, tip the scales toward Sinner going metal again.
And »Tequila Suicide«, the band’s latest studio effort, doesn’t stray from the formula either. Sinner even kept the same cover designer, and stylistically the new album sticks to the recipe of its predecessors »One Bullet Left« (2011), »Crash And Burn« (2008), »Mask of Sanity« (2007). Hand on heart, Mat Sinner doesn’t want another move into heavy metal territory, since Sinner could end up sounding too much like Primal Fear, which brings Mat Sinner a bit more profit. And anyway, the whole question is moot, because his brainchild »Rock Meets Classics« has him financially set for the next few lifetimes.
So Sinner remain a band that truly creates out of pure enjoyment. With Mat Sinner more heavily involved in Primal Fear, Sinner stay his »side band«. They make an album whenever it really suits them, so no pressure. The style isn’t current. It actually recalls the heroes from Sinner’s rebellious days, i.e. the seventies. Listen to »Tequila Suicide« on its own, pulled out of the rest of the catalog, and it sounds downright brilliant, but otherwise it’s really just effectively reheating the »old soup«. »Tequila Suicide« will thus first and foremost please the diehard fans who’ve been breathing with the band since its early days. A very solid, nice, classic Sinner album. »Classic« in the sense of taking the new times into account.
Sinner – Tequila Suicide (official video):
Line-up
Mat Sinner – vocals, bass
Tom Naumann – guitar
Alex Scholpp – guitar
Francesco Jovino – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Gus G (Ozzy Osbourne & Firewind)
Ricky Warwick (The Almighty, Black Star Riders, Thin Lizzy)
Pete Lincoln (Sailor, Sweet)
Production
Mat Sinner
Track list
01 Go Down Fighting
02 Tequila Suicide
03 Road To Hell
04 Dragons
05 Battle Hill
06 Sinner Blues
07 Why
08 Gypsy Rebels
09 Loud & Clear
10 Dying On A Broken Heart
