Sinner - Born To Rock - The Noise Years 1984-1987

Even though they aren’t necessarily a household name, German band Sinner has been around over forty years and have released twenty studio albums.  Throughout the years the band has gone through a fairly regular revolving door of members including guitarist Herman Frank (Accept, Victory), but the one constant has been founding member vocalist and bassist Mat Sinner, who is also a founding member of the band Primal Fear.  In 1984, after releasing their first two albums, they signed with Noise Records, and released their next four albums, which are the basis for the box set Born To Rock - The Noise Years 1984-1987. 

Danger Zone was their first album with Noise and it’s a solid amalgamation of NWOBHM and eighties metal along often with elements of Accept, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.  It is well-produced and pretty much straight-ahead metal from start to finish.  Sinner’s vocals have just the right amount of gruffness, the guitar playing is strong throughout, and the drumming has a good crisp sound, which sometimes works better than others.  The album opens strongly with the twin guitars of the title track that give it somewhat of a Thin Lizzy groove.  They slow things down with “No Place In Heaven”, a midtempo track with just a hint of a blues groove, and then speed it right back up with “Scene Of A Crime”, a slightly Maiden-like cut driven by some powerful drumming.  Some of the other highlights include the near thrash “Fast, Hard & Loud”, “Razor Blade” with it’s hints of Priest and a great George Lynch styled solo, and the early Motley Crue sounding “Rattlesnake”.  Danger Zone really found the band firing on all cylinders.  

Touch Of Sin was released the following year and found Herman Frank on guitar.  It’s a pretty good follow up, but it’s a little more polished and melodic and missing some of the edge of its predecessor.  “Born To Rock” starts the album promisingly with a symphonic intro leading into a big anthemic rocker, but it becomes a bit generic.  Tracks like “Shout” with its driving Iron Maiden gallop and strong guitar solo, “Out Of Control”, which has more of a modern metal sound and a bit of a groove, and the speed metal cut “Too Late To Run Away”, are some of the stronger songs. Other highlights include “Emerald” and “Masquerade”, mixing together Maiden, Priest and Thin Lizzy and the midtempo “Hand Of Fate”. Listening to it now almost forty years later, it doesn’t quite stand up to Danger Zone, but reading the liner notes, Sinner says it was the “perfect progression”.  Also included on disc two are five bonus tracks including two that were on a 1994 reissue of the CD and three that were originally released on 12” singles and are basically extended versions of album tracks.    

With the keyboards coming through prominently only fifteen seconds into “Hypnotized”, the first track on their next album Comin’ Out Fighting, the signs are there that something is different here.  With the exception of a handful of tracks this is a pure melodic rock album, which was apparently more the direction the label wanted them heading and not the band.  Having said that, if you are a fan of melodic rock, there are some really strong tracks here.  In addition the the aforementioned opening cut, there is “Age Of Rock”, which actually has a little bit of an edginess to it, and the hook heavy “Lost In A Minute” where the keys work extremely well with some really nice synth runs.  A couple of tracks that harken back to their earlier, heavier side like the title track and “Playing With Fire”, which is like a slightly less heavy Maiden. There are also a few really big missteps with the sappy ballad “Don’t Tell Me (That The Love Is Gone)”, “Germany Rocks” and their cover of “Rebel Yell” that is virtually a karaoke version complete with Sinner doing his best Billy Idol vocal, but overall this is still an enjoyable release.  

Sinner’s final album for Noise and the last one here is Dangerous Charm. Unfortunately, this time around they went even further in the AOR direction, and the results just really aren’t very good.  The guitars have largely been delegated to the background and the synths to the front. “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, with its chorus like backing vocals, comes off like a a poor man’s version of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is”, the synths in “Tomorrow Doesn’t Matter Tonight” are identical to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and Sinner’s duet with Jacqui Virgil on “Nobody Rocks Like You” is like a bad Bryan Adams / Tina Turner.  There are a few glimmers of hope with songs like “Gipsy” and “Fight The Fight”, a hard charging track that takes you back to their early days, but they are few and far between.  The disc also includes “Last Dance”, a bonus track that has a good guitar solo, but otherwise if fairly nondescript.  It was originally included on the 1994 reissue of the CD.  While the album ends the box set on a bit of a negative note, as a whole Born To Rock - The Noise Years 1984-1987 is definitely recommended for metal fans of that era.  

(Dissonance)