Tower Reviews Week 188! (2017)

Sinner – Tequila Suicide (2017) – German thrashers turned hard rockers Sinner have just released their eighteenth full-length release, which definitely marks the band’s choice to create a more classic rock themed album with some elements of their power metal sound in-tact. These guys may not have realized it, but there are literal dragon fetishists out there in the world, which will probably be delighted by “Dragons” which is supposed to be about scornful women, though could end up meaning something completely different to these people. Especially if they fetishize such beasts as female. In any case, this is just one of the many standout notes here, like the folk-influenced “Pride Of Battle Hill” which seems to take a Game Of Thrones sort of aesthetic and could also appeal to those dragon fetishists. Then we have the almost HIM-feel of the album’s title cut, which even seems to take on a slightly Goth element in the chorus, albeit with more guitar bravado than most love metal acts. “Sinner Blues” really changes the nature of this band, giving us an all-around twangy blues number. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just a little different that you might expect. “Gypsy Rebels” feels like a good old classic rocker, with a spitfire chorus that you’ll hum aloud for a few hours after. “Loud & Clear” pumps up the octane a bit, as thundering bass teams up with leads that still have a whiff here and there of power metal (you’ll notice that throughout the majority of the album) and serves as the last real rocker that we get on the record. It ends with a very modern-era Bon Jovi cut called “Dying On A Broken Heart.” Obviously, this isn’t my favorite cut by any means (it’s “Dragons” if you hadn’t guessed) but I can say that it has a lot of radio flavor and could put them on the mainstream map. It’s also pretty safe to say that Tequila Suicide is one of their most accessible albums and should net them some credit as far as the rock charts in Germany are concerned. It’s certainly not a bad album, by any means. I’m also going to talk a little about our bonus cuts here, which are all pretty memorable. The first one was a tribute to rock in general, called “House Of Rock.” It’s a slow-chugging anthem that features a fist raising chorus and should have done just fine on the original album. I mean, I would have replaced it with “Why” (which literally didn’t feel like anything) or the album’s opener “Go Down Fighting” in a heartbeat. Plus, it probably would have a made a much bigger opening statement than a song about wondering where all the good days of drinking beer and having fun went to. “Monday Morning” is a soft-rock song, which I don’t think would have made as much of an impact on the record, but it certainly has a bit more going for it than “Sinner Blues.” I really like the solo section in the piece, which almost sounds a bit romantic – there’s some real passion in that, which I don’t recall from the aforementioned. The last one we have here is another hefty cut called “I Am” which sounds like American hard rock as far as the riff-matter is concerned. There’s a few driving riffs later, but I think the chorus was a little undercooked. I get the idea, it just doesn’t flow quite as well as some of the numbers that sound similar to it. Maybe it would have had a bit more bite, if it had been a verse or two longer. It didn’t really stick with me in the way that song like this could, or should. There was definitely potential here. After all is said and done, it’s quite obvious that fans of Sinner’s older material probably won’t find much here. There isn’t even a review for any of the albums released on AFM, including one of my favorites, “One Bullet Left.” Particularly the title cut of that one, which is on my cellphone playlist. Still remains a constant jam. There’s a possibility that I might end up adding  “Dragons” from this one to that list as well. The rest of the album is definitely worth checking out, it just has a great deal of subtle changes and may not be quite as “heavy” as you would expect. They’ve still got it – it’s just a bit toned down this time around. But when you’re a guy like Mat Sinner and have released eighteen albums with this band, not to mention several others in various other outfits; does it really matter what you do at this point? Sinner remain consistent and still manage to pack a punch after all of these years. That’s not something that many other bands can say.

(13 Tracks, 50:00)

7/10

Helion Prime – Helion Prime (2017) – Due to the advent of current social justice trends, I am no longer allowed to identify an act as female fronted. Silly, I know – but that’s what I’m given and I’ll work with it. Regardless, we have the fantastic debut from Californian modern/power metallers Helion Prime which also features Witch Mountain frontwoman Kayla Dixon. It’s interesting to see her in this band, as they aren’t just an act with lyrics that focus on science-fiction, but scientific facts. Yeah, you heard me right. So if I use Alan Moore’s From Hell model, this would definitely have to be the left side of her brain (logic) where as the other act would accompany the right side (mysticism) and provides perfect musical balance. But aside from her amazing vocal performances (and truly, there are so many quality notes given here) these guys manage to pump the disc with hard-hitting bass that sometimes seems to meld completely with the drums creating just a sort of loud THUMP which ends up reverberating in my mind and gives it some semblance of thrash. Adding to that, we have several whirls of melody not too far-removed from modern thrash and power metal acts. There could be as much Trivium as there is Dragonforce here, but believe me – it sounds far better than both. Although whoever is playing the synths isn’t credited, they should be, because these little electronic touches add to the spatial atmosphere of the piece. Remember, from the minute “The Drake Equation” begins, we’re dealing with scientific theorems and how they might relate to the mysteries of the universe – it needs to sound like the band could be playing this on some distant moon, rather than a fantastical battlefield in Middle-Earth and that is captured here quite well. Now there are some references that I can make to other acts in this genre like Seven Kingdoms and A Sound Of Thunder which are both just as proficient and leading the female vocal revolution in heavy metal as of late. We may have had the Halford and Dickinson-fronted male years back in the eighties, but as more women have stepped up to the plate to give this music a try, we’re now getting an approach that we should have gotten about twenty years ago. Better late than never, and these women are delivering it with a style and flair that is literally all their own. Instrumentally, all three acts would be considered a level of power metal as well, which is quite bizarre to me event though I’ve loved all of it. They’ve all been very consistent too, which is another action that I can praise. There is one kind of issue I took with the album though (and this has kind of a funny story behind it) as the disc’s sixth track “You Keep What You Kill” is it’s heaviest and features death metal vocals, which do not appear again on any one single-song on the album. I really hope “You Keep What You Kill” would not be used as a single or promotional video (use “The Drake Equation” or “Moon-Watcher” instead) because it would be selling listeners a power/death album, instead of a power metal album and this can be misleading. When I first listened to the album, I randomly selected this track and yeah, you can kind of guess what I was expecting from it. The burly death metal vocals offsetting the almost militant female tone seemed like a match made in hell for me. Unfortunately, that is just one track and in no way reflective of the full album. I also need to note that while I have the actual disc version of this record, the Bandcamp version has been digitally available since 2016 and we’ll link to that. But that’s not all, because even though I’ve written Kayla Dixon as the vocalist here, she isn’t. According to Metal Archives, she has just joined the band and replaces original songwriter and vocalist, Heather Michelle. Michelle left the band recently, though I am not sure why – especially since she did a great deal of the songwriting, taking former drummer Justin Herzer with her. What happened? In any case, both musicians have been replaced and now I have no earthly idea as to what the next record from these guys will sound like. I will say that from the photo on the back cover of the album’s booklet, the frontwoman looked really pissed to be honest, quite like I’d expect to be glared at if I’d forgotten to take out the trash or something. (Fun Fact: Many marriages have ended simply because one person refused to take out the garbage. So don’t neglect it!) In any case, I guess the best thing that I can tell you is to enjoy the record for what it is and don’t let the massive lineup change take away your enjoyment from it. It is still a phenomenal power metal album with one of the best vocal approaches I’ve heard from a female frontwoman in the genre. Michelle’s voice was uncanny, so I’m still not really sure how they could replace it. Regardless of that, they released a new single called “Remnants Of Stars” so if you’re curious, I’ve added a video for that below.

(12 Tracks, 57:00)

9/10