Sinbreed
Shadows
AFM Records
2014
Sinbreed come from Germany and are a power metal band that seems to be in short be bringing together the Teutonic slightly aggressive style that was popularized by bands like Blind Guardian and the likes with the more dark and in your face even more primal style of American bands like Iced Earth. After all even the chief figures of those bands collaborated in Demons and Wizards. All of this under the prism of a very modern and edgy production that brings the drums very upfront. There’s hardly anything “too bad” going on soundwise, apart maybe from the bass, being a little “transparent” in the mix and the impressive vocals being drowned a bit by the constant “bombardment” of things going on at all times. The compositions are barely allowed to breathe, but at least, the melodies, riffs etc., are nice and structured in such a way that they don’t bore... and vocalists Herbie Langhans’ voice is loud enough to be heard above the whole hubbub!
It should also be noted that Blind Guardian members Marcus Siepen (guitars) and Frederik Ehmke (drums) are members of that band. Basically it’s them plus members of an older bands that changed its name from Neoshine after some legal issues with some American label. The two “Guardians” only joined after the first album...
“Bleed” is an impressive opener, that has a cool riff and after a progressive build unleashes a pretty amazing chorus that leaves one, gobsmacked!
“Shadows” continues the pronounced, double bass, punishment, this time with a more spartan yet rather symphonic chorus, chanted over a bare riff, in quite an impressive fashion. Nice lead too.
“Call to arms” at first seems to slow down a bit, but just hits back with double the resolve. Langhans that usually sounds a bit like current Metal Church vocalist Ronny Munroe, here, channels a bit more of his inner Udo, I guess, with more gravel coming out in the delivery… the melodic infusions in the bridge/pre-chorus and main chorus, are really lifting the song considerably.
“Reborn” enters rather inconspicuously and just hits hard until dropping a massive chorus around the 1:30 mark... typical, double bass drum fare, but these guys have done their homework... when it comes to delivering the chorus… they do deliver the goods! Don’t bore us – Get to the Chorus… I mean if people like Freedom Call can carve a career with 4th rate songs… bands like this one should be able to do SO MUCH better…
“Leaving the Road” with its slight syncopation is the first song after an almost unbroken line of four, that shows the band slowing down a bit and showing some signs of “getting a little tired” but it still holds out, rather impressively, it’s not a filler by any means.
And it’s only a momentary “pause” as the relentless beatdown at 200 bpm :P (or somewhere close) continues with “Far Too Long” which is pretty decent, but seems to be losing the edge fast in terms of catchiness… compared to the opening four tracks...
“Black Death” is still fast paced but is a lot darker in its pitch and style with a lot more Maidenesque and less power metal melodies a nice solo and an overall much more ominous atmosphere, that’s more reminiscent of bands like Rage or Grave Digger in their more atmospheric “attempts”.
“Standing Tall” tries to recapture the “lost mojo” and up to the point manages to do so, in a medium/fast style, again with lots of melody but still the ideas on this song are not as brilliant as on the first four songs, it’s slightly “of a lesser” rate… again not a bad song, just a lesser impressive song than the four, really impressive songs that open the album and really raise the bar way too high.
“London Moon” is probably the one song that’s the closest thing that one could describe to a near filler. While it’s not horrible, as it is a decent enough melodic number, it’s a predictable by the numbers mid/fast tempo tune with only a nice vocal melody during the chorus, that the rest of the song hardly lives up to.
Finally “Broken Wings” at first due to its overtly long acoustic guitar intro, could at first mistaken for a folk/acoustic ballad, but soon enough it blasts into a very “Guardian” meets “Maiden” sort of mid tempo that tries to be epic without either explicitly succeeding or failing. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t rise above mediocrity and apart from a decent riff it doesn’t manage to have a main melody memorable enough to carry the entire seven minute composition. Siepen (or is it Flo Laurin?) tries to come up with some ideas during his solo in during the fourth minute, but he seems to be rather struggling to come up with something flashy, rather than being sure of what he’s playing... not bad... but a few heroic deeds sort of the epic it tries so hard to be….
Overall. Promising, but very uneven! Putting four very strong songs at the very start of the album and not spreading them all over the album, makes you expect more “super” songs and when they don’t arrive, that becomes a little underwhelming… but well there’s hardly something “very bad” in sight and Sinbreed, could and should have no problem riding the waves of the Europower tide...
It should also be noted that Blind Guardian members Marcus Siepen (guitars) and Frederik Ehmke (drums) are members of that band. Basically it’s them plus members of an older bands that changed its name from Neoshine after some legal issues with some American label. The two “Guardians” only joined after the first album...
“Bleed” is an impressive opener, that has a cool riff and after a progressive build unleashes a pretty amazing chorus that leaves one, gobsmacked!
“Shadows” continues the pronounced, double bass, punishment, this time with a more spartan yet rather symphonic chorus, chanted over a bare riff, in quite an impressive fashion. Nice lead too.
“Call to arms” at first seems to slow down a bit, but just hits back with double the resolve. Langhans that usually sounds a bit like current Metal Church vocalist Ronny Munroe, here, channels a bit more of his inner Udo, I guess, with more gravel coming out in the delivery… the melodic infusions in the bridge/pre-chorus and main chorus, are really lifting the song considerably.
“Reborn” enters rather inconspicuously and just hits hard until dropping a massive chorus around the 1:30 mark... typical, double bass drum fare, but these guys have done their homework... when it comes to delivering the chorus… they do deliver the goods! Don’t bore us – Get to the Chorus… I mean if people like Freedom Call can carve a career with 4th rate songs… bands like this one should be able to do SO MUCH better…
“Leaving the Road” with its slight syncopation is the first song after an almost unbroken line of four, that shows the band slowing down a bit and showing some signs of “getting a little tired” but it still holds out, rather impressively, it’s not a filler by any means.
And it’s only a momentary “pause” as the relentless beatdown at 200 bpm :P (or somewhere close) continues with “Far Too Long” which is pretty decent, but seems to be losing the edge fast in terms of catchiness… compared to the opening four tracks...
“Black Death” is still fast paced but is a lot darker in its pitch and style with a lot more Maidenesque and less power metal melodies a nice solo and an overall much more ominous atmosphere, that’s more reminiscent of bands like Rage or Grave Digger in their more atmospheric “attempts”.
“Standing Tall” tries to recapture the “lost mojo” and up to the point manages to do so, in a medium/fast style, again with lots of melody but still the ideas on this song are not as brilliant as on the first four songs, it’s slightly “of a lesser” rate… again not a bad song, just a lesser impressive song than the four, really impressive songs that open the album and really raise the bar way too high.
“London Moon” is probably the one song that’s the closest thing that one could describe to a near filler. While it’s not horrible, as it is a decent enough melodic number, it’s a predictable by the numbers mid/fast tempo tune with only a nice vocal melody during the chorus, that the rest of the song hardly lives up to.
Finally “Broken Wings” at first due to its overtly long acoustic guitar intro, could at first mistaken for a folk/acoustic ballad, but soon enough it blasts into a very “Guardian” meets “Maiden” sort of mid tempo that tries to be epic without either explicitly succeeding or failing. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t rise above mediocrity and apart from a decent riff it doesn’t manage to have a main melody memorable enough to carry the entire seven minute composition. Siepen (or is it Flo Laurin?) tries to come up with some ideas during his solo in during the fourth minute, but he seems to be rather struggling to come up with something flashy, rather than being sure of what he’s playing... not bad... but a few heroic deeds sort of the epic it tries so hard to be….
Overall. Promising, but very uneven! Putting four very strong songs at the very start of the album and not spreading them all over the album, makes you expect more “super” songs and when they don’t arrive, that becomes a little underwhelming… but well there’s hardly something “very bad” in sight and Sinbreed, could and should have no problem riding the waves of the Europower tide...