“Shame on you, you big sinner.” That’s what I was saying to myself after my introduction to the band Sinner. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about Mat Sinner’s original band Sinner before now. With their 12 track, 18th studio album “Santa Muerte” on AFM Records being released Friday, September 13th, you’d think I’d have listened to them at least once. Hell, Sinner already had 8 amazing studio albums released by the time Mat started as one of the original members of Primal Fear in 1997. It just goes to show you how a myopic musical focus can sometimes cost you years of great music. Well with Sinner I have quickly made up for lost time. Im currently going over Sinner’s entire discography.
I want to express to you how much I enjoyed the new Sinner album, Santa Muerte, but I didn’t know how to quite do it. With most new music I hear I will listen to it a little at a time,reviewing over and over again only those songs, or even parts of songs that grab my attention. I will eventually get around to all the music of albums I get, but it often happens in spurts or blocks. But with Santa Muerte I listened to the first song and liked it so much that I decided to listen to the second song, and then the third, and then the fourth.
So what was it that was so good about Mat Sinner’s latest offering . . . I’ll use a word my podcast partner hates . . . Nostalgia! Holy shit did this album take me back. Back to a time when we would head bang in the church parking lot at midnight on a Saturday night with the music blaring, and not a care in the world. From the first song “Shine On”, Santa Muerte meets the Trunnell Boy Good Metal Standard of grabbing you by the balls and hauling your ass along for the ride. Fast, hard, and loud, which happens to be the title to one of Sinner’s first album songs . . . that’s how I would describe this music. With an incredible musical component to the band led by:Mat Sinner on bass/vocals, and
Tom Naumann & Alex Scholpp on guitars
Sinner brings the ear piercing sound that penetrates to a place not just where music is listened to . . . but symbiotically interacted with. The sound itself conjures up such vivid images and situations that it can easily be described as a multi-media experience.
After those qualities the next thing you notice about this album is the variety of vocals from song to song. Now Mat Sinner sings a lot of the songs himself, and he’s got a great metal voice, but new to Sinner on this album is the amazing musings of Giorgia Colleluori; with songs like the aforementioned Shine On, as well as Last Exit Hell, Lucky 13, The Wolf, Misty Mountain, or the crazy good remake of the old blues classic Death Letter . . . one cannot help but be lulled into a metal mood by the inherent sense of POWER that emanates from her voice. There are also guest vocalists on this album, Rick Warwick (Thin Lizzy & Black Star Riders) and Ronnie Romero (Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow) lend their amazing voices to What Went Wrong & Fiesta y Copas respectively.
Every song on this album has it’s own unique flair and even though the music makes me nostalgic, it also prompts a new response to each track. There are seriously guitar pounding songs like Shine On, The Wolf, & Fiesta y Copas. There are melodic power metal licks in such songs as What Went Wrong & the title track Santa Muerte. Plus the aforementioned re-imaginative blues classic Death Letter.
So what’s my final take on Sinner’s Santa Muerte? FIVE TIMES folks, I listened to this album five times all the way through. . . without stopping , , , FIVE TIMES. Shit if that doesn’t tell you something . . . solid A- for Sinner & Santa Muerte.
