Sister Sin
Black Lotus
Victory Records
2014
Sister Sin have been going on for a while now making waves in their native Sweden and beyond and to even be signed by Victory in the States is a bit of a success, for them. The problem with them is that they are so goddamn generic and their songs a dime a dozen, that it really makes me scratch my head, what people find appealing in them?
Can it be frontwoman Liv Jagrell? It’s unlikely, she yells too much, her voice is rough and rugged as are her athletic looks and she’s not exactly superbly pretty, even if she tries to pretend to be a femme fatale, with rather comical results, due to the heavy amounts of Photoshop.
Their songs are tightly played, but their modern rock/metal is so homogenized that no riff really stands out, it sounds like some bouillabaisse where music from the 90s and the 00s has amalgamated into one big similar song that is divided every four or five minutes by a gap, with choruses hardly different than verses in tone or style.
Listening to “Food For Worms” or the single “Chaos Royale” or even “Au Rervoir” was almost indistinguishable…. since they’re all in your face punkish metal outbursts. The first song that really seems to differentiate itself somewhat and is somewhat interesting actually, is “Desert Queen” with its mid-tempo and more interesting style.
Actually, “Count Me Out” is also another step in the right/rock direction, even if it’s in the mid-tempo territory and all its keyboard underpinnings, makes it a little boring.
“Stones Thrown” is again – the same “riff” and boring repetitive rock attitude, but it lacks a really good hook, sounding completely generic. While the band, has the right attitude and sound, their songs are not “THAT” good, to make a lasting impression.
“The Jinx” is a little weird, because it’s a ballad, with some big acoustics and the use of “SWEEEENGLISH” is totally making it a little difficult to understand the lyrics at the beginning!
“Ruled by None” is highly rhythmical and somewhat better than a lot of other songs on offer here, at least there’s a riff and some effort going on here and even a slight epic slant.
Last but not least... “Sail North” heralds a return to the more rhythmical and up-tempo stuff and seems to feature some guest/double vocals, but it doesn’t really escape, mediocrity by a long margin, but at least it sounds better than the “single”…
All in all, “Sister Sin” tried to “core up” and harden up their act on certain songs, which would act as singles, thus resulting in an album that sounds quite not uniform and is probably worst compared to their previous output as it’s forced into being something that it’s not. A couple of songs work, but most don’t. And that flower, it brings to mind, the weirdest and worst connotations of the most sickening concoctions... and some vertically challenged, lying, bearded men… meh!
Can it be frontwoman Liv Jagrell? It’s unlikely, she yells too much, her voice is rough and rugged as are her athletic looks and she’s not exactly superbly pretty, even if she tries to pretend to be a femme fatale, with rather comical results, due to the heavy amounts of Photoshop.
Their songs are tightly played, but their modern rock/metal is so homogenized that no riff really stands out, it sounds like some bouillabaisse where music from the 90s and the 00s has amalgamated into one big similar song that is divided every four or five minutes by a gap, with choruses hardly different than verses in tone or style.
Listening to “Food For Worms” or the single “Chaos Royale” or even “Au Rervoir” was almost indistinguishable…. since they’re all in your face punkish metal outbursts. The first song that really seems to differentiate itself somewhat and is somewhat interesting actually, is “Desert Queen” with its mid-tempo and more interesting style.
Actually, “Count Me Out” is also another step in the right/rock direction, even if it’s in the mid-tempo territory and all its keyboard underpinnings, makes it a little boring.
“Stones Thrown” is again – the same “riff” and boring repetitive rock attitude, but it lacks a really good hook, sounding completely generic. While the band, has the right attitude and sound, their songs are not “THAT” good, to make a lasting impression.
“The Jinx” is a little weird, because it’s a ballad, with some big acoustics and the use of “SWEEEENGLISH” is totally making it a little difficult to understand the lyrics at the beginning!
“Ruled by None” is highly rhythmical and somewhat better than a lot of other songs on offer here, at least there’s a riff and some effort going on here and even a slight epic slant.
Last but not least... “Sail North” heralds a return to the more rhythmical and up-tempo stuff and seems to feature some guest/double vocals, but it doesn’t really escape, mediocrity by a long margin, but at least it sounds better than the “single”…
All in all, “Sister Sin” tried to “core up” and harden up their act on certain songs, which would act as singles, thus resulting in an album that sounds quite not uniform and is probably worst compared to their previous output as it’s forced into being something that it’s not. A couple of songs work, but most don’t. And that flower, it brings to mind, the weirdest and worst connotations of the most sickening concoctions... and some vertically challenged, lying, bearded men… meh!