Sinbreed – “Shadows”

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Sinbreed-Shadows-Cover-638Having been a fan of power metal since a mere tyke back in the old days of cassettes, some recent new releases have been literal music to my ears.  Iron Savior’s Rise of the Hero and Morning Dwell’s self-titled are two great albums that have recently debuted.  Now, Sinbreed, featuring Blind Guardian members, has released their sophomore album Shadows as a new entry into the recent power metal releases of note.  Not coincidentally, Sinbreed are on the same label AFM Records as Iron Savior and these two are certainly bringing good attention to their label.

For those wondering about the heritage of Sinbreed, the band does contain guitarist Marcus Siepen and drummer Frederik Ehmke from Blind Guardian, establishing instant credibility within power metal.  Shadows is the second full-length album from the band and follows the critically-acclaimed When Worlds Collide that was released in 2010.  The album was produced by Flo Laurin and mixed and mastered by Markus Teske (Vanden Plas, Symphony X) and includes a host of guest appearances including: Joost van den Broek (After Forever) and Morten Sandager (Mercenary) on keyboards, and Thomas Rettke (Redkey, ex-Heaven’s Gate) on vocals.

Drum roll and then straight into guitar riffs and some intro melodic screaming and into a galloping verse at high speed is a great way for an album to begin.  No soft, orchestral track to open things up like so many bands seem to be doing these days, just straight into a song, and a heavy one called “Bleed” no less.  Sinbreed waste no time launching into the power metal.  In a lot of respects, “Bleed” is a great track to start with as it sets the tone for the album from the beginning.  Fast guitars, great riffs, soaring and epic metal vocals, fast and frenetic drumming are all here in “Bleed.”  Topping it off are some great power metal lyrics…“You can run but you can’t hide, I will not rest ‘til you bleed”.  Wisely, Sinbreed have chosen this song to be the first video as well.

In many cases, albums struggle to live up to their hype and expectations and I would say that Shadows may very well fall into that category for many listeners.  To my jaded ears, the overall sound on the album seems a bit too subdued and as a result, the songs lose a lot of their potential impact.  The drums seem especially quiet and in most cases reduced to a background rumble.  Now, I have just come off of a binge of listening to Rise of the Hero by Iron Savior which has a sound that is the way I like things, so that may be clouding my impression a bit and in all fairness, comparisons often really aren’t very fair either.   Power metal in general tends to be a very clean sounding genre, especially compared to the sloppy punk/hardcore I often listen to, and Shadows certainly is very clean, but it seems to lack a bit of crispness or life that I’ve heard on other albums in the genre.  The title track “Shadows” provides a glimpse of what I’m talking about as the opening drums seem to be a bit distant in the overall sound and never seem to come to the forefront where they could really add some impact to the song.  I do love the group vocals in this song and overall structure of the song where the sections of rapid fire drumming are broken up a bit in some great transitions.

Power metal songs involve mystical realms and journeys and those familiar with the genre will know  exactly what I’m talking about in terms of the song structure and progression and the songs on Shadows fit with what you would expect  in power metal.  “Leaving the Road” is one of those songs for me.  It starts out with the slow drum beat and a steady guitar riff that feels like it’s building into something especially when the second guitar comes in and then the vocals initiate the transition to the fast, chugging verse section, just like so many other great songs.  Similar in structure and approach but all the good ones are very different in sound.  Add in the chorus with the perfectly mixed backing vocals that are so great to sing along with and in the end your left with a great song.

The album closes with “Broken Wings” which does lull you into a false sense of peace with its soft, pleasant opening guitar, before a drum roll signals the end of the peace and a mean guitar riff takes over.  Almost as if the album was recorded in the order of the tracks, Herbie Langhans vocals seem to be a touch more ragged on this track compared to the others on the album.  That being said, they still retain the smooth power and tone found on the the rest of the album but there is a touch of control being lost, which adds a nice element to the song.  In the big picture, I’m at a loss as who I could compare the vocals to but I hear some old Geoff Tate (Queensryche) in there from time to time, but the vocals have the tone, control, range, and power that you would expect from a top power metal band.

This is a tough album for me to review as I want to like it a lot more than I do.  The songs are all well-crafted, and the performances are spot on, but there is just something holding it back from being truly exceptional.  While it may not hit my “truly exceptional” category, this is another high quality power metal release of late and is one that any fan of power metal should check out.

Rating: 7/10

Written by John Jackson

Tracklist:
01. Bleed
02. Shadows
03 Call To Arms
04. Reborn
05. Leaving The Road
06. Far Too Long
07. Black Death
08. Standing Tall
09. London Moon
10. Broken Wings

Band members:
Herbie Langhans [Seventh Avenue/Beyond the Bridge] – Vocals
Frederik Ehmke [Blind Guardian] – Drums
Alexander Schulz – Bass
Flo Laurin – Guitars, Keys
Marcus Siepen- Guitars [Blind Guardian]

Albums:
“When Worlds Collide”  [2010]
“Shadows” [2014]

Record Label: AFM Records, March 2014

Weblinks:  Facebook / Website / Twitter

Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
USA: Metal Helm

Video below ‘Bleed’

Video below ‘Reborn’ live at Progpower USA XIII NEW SONG

 

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