Metal Thrashing Mad – Sinner vs. Wolfpakk vs. Dark Age – CD review

Metal Thrashing Mad – Sinner vs. Wolfpakk vs. DarkAge

SINNER
Touch Of Sin 2
AFM

Aiiiiiieee!! For sure, if anyone was ‘Born To Rock’, it’s Primal Fear bass player, Mat Sinner, who has been rawking hard for many a decade now. And for this release, he has went back and re-recorded eleven songs from his eighties catalogue, most of which are long unavailable. In fact, he’s went all the way back to the debut Sinner album, “Touch Of Sin”, hence the title.

He’s brought in an all star cast to assist him, with guitarists Alex Beyrodt (Primal Fear, Voodoo Circle), Christof Leim (The New Black) and Alex Scholpp (Tarja, Farmer Boys) with drummer Andre Hilgers (Rage) and an array of guests including vocalist David Readman (Voodoo Circle, Pink Cream 69), guitarist Erik Martensson (W.E.T.), vocalist Diego Valdez (Helker) and guitarist Tom Naumann (ex-Primal Fear).

And it’s good fun, with songs from “Danger Zone”, “Touch of Sin”, “Comin’ Out Fighting” and “Dangerous Charm” getting an excellent makeover along with three new tracks – ‘Blood On The Sand’, ‘Heat Of The City’ and a cover of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Don’t Believe A Word’. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but then I would, seeing as how I was raised in a world of eighties metal. Let’s rawk!

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WOLFPAKK
Cry Wolf
AFM

Blimey! This was a turn up for the books. I’d actually forgotten all about the debut Wolfpakk album that came out a couple of years back. One of the perils of listening to too many records. But here come Mark Sweeney (ex-Crystal Ball) and Michael Voss (Mad Max, ex-Casanova) with another all star romp through some classic hard rock.

And they’ve really pulled out all the stops this time. Heck, they’ve even brought in Rainbow / Planet P keyboard player Tony Carey for some rocking authenticity. Which explains the appearance of a cover version of ‘Run With The Wolf’. If that weren’t enough (deep breath), the vocalists are Amanda Somerville (Kiske/Somerville – pictured), Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Göran Edman (Ex-Yngwie Malmsteen), Johnny Gioeli (Axel Rudi Pell, Hardline), Doogie White (Ex-Rainbow, Michael Schenker), Tony Mills (Shy, TNT), Blaze Baley (Ex-Iron Maiden), Piet Sielck (Iron Savior), Jean-Marc Viller (Callaway). Whew!

On guitars you’ve got Kee Marcello (Ex-Europe), Mandy Meyer (Krokus, Ex-Gotthard), Roland Grapow (Masterplan), Martin Rauber (Top4tea), the drums are by Gereon Homann (Eat The Gun), Brian Tichy (Whitesnake /Ozzy), Hermann Rarebell (Ex-Scorpions), Roland Jahoda (Ex-Paradox, F.U.C.K.). Oh, and yeah, there’s Don Airey (Deep Purple / ex Everybody).

As before, it’s an excellent set of melodic hard rock, nodding back to the seventies, but mainly rooted in the early eighties. There’s plenty of top quality tunes, with ‘The Beast In Me’ and ‘Pressure Down’ the highlights round my way, as well as the epicus metallicus title track which clocks in at ten minutes long.

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DARK AGE
A Matter Of Trust
AFM

Ah well, all good things come to an end. And so it is with Dark Age and there quest to return us to the dark ages of nu-metal. Yes, really. Now I thought my mindbombing campaign of ’96 had taken care of the remnants of that particular nightmare, but it seems as though I was wrong.

I could have sworn that this lot started life as a Rammstein tribute band back in the nineties, but I’m damn sure I’m not going to take the chance of double checking. Life’s too short. But seems like that didn’t pan out, so now they want to be Linkin Park when even Linkin Park don’t want to be Linkin Park.

Did I like anything about this? Well, the production is huge and in your face. But I can think of many things I’d like to have shoved in my face, and this isn’t one of them. If you’re a sucker for punishment, then there is a limited edition 2 CD set out with covers of tunes by the likes of Metallica, Saxon, Ozzy, Running Wild, AC/DC, Motorhead and [gags] U2.

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