I stumbled across Sinbreed while surfing youtube one day and discovered their hard driving song "Dust to Dust." It got stuck in my head and I decied to give the whole album a try. In a word: INCREDIBLE. I grew up on 80s metal - now let me clarify that, the real stuff, not the fluffy big hair stuff. I'm talking old school Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Sinbreed have this stuff in their musical DNA but that does not mean in any way they are some sort of anachronism - they keep it fresh and new. Perhaps my favorite part of the band is Herbie Langhan's (also of Seventh Avenue) powerful vocals. At times he reminds me of Paul D'iano and Blaze Bayley (both formerly of Iron Maiden) with his gravelly delivery, but his range is impressive and he hits some soaring and melodic notes at times too. Guitarist Flo Laurin, the brains of the project, delivers solid, impressive, hard driving riffage and solos throughout. Alex Schulz and Frederick Ehmke (of veteran band Blind Guardian) make up the rythm section of bass and drums respectively, and Ehmke especially shines with plenty of double bass and brutal drumming.
Stand out tracks include the aforementioned "Dust to Dust" along with "Newborn Tomorrow", "Book of Life" and "Salvation." However, there are no filler tracks here - hard driving, full on, adrenaline rush, head banging power metal from start to finish. A plus for me are the underlying themes of Christianity (vocalist Langhan fronts the Christian metal band Seventh Avenue) that are evident but not heavy handed. I believe Christ is exalted, but the music remains accessible (and encouraging)for anybody. I believe Christian themes may reach a whole group of metal heads who might think Christian metal is cheesy.
The price of the mp3 download at amazon.com is tremendous and Sinbreed delivers 10 tracks at 44 minutes of pure metal fury that will make your heart pound, your ears ache and your head bang!
