Customer Reviews

Switchblade Serenades

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had my doubts when I saw this in the store, but it looked interesting, so I took a chance and bought it. But from the first few moments of the opening song, I was hooked! I can't believe that I let this simmering slab of rock sit on my counter for a couple weeks before I had a chance to give it a listen! This band is smokin' hot! They bring back the sound from the prime-time days of 80's rock with a vengenence! Every song kicks booty, but the stand-out songs are "On Parole" and "Switchblade Serenade" followed closely by "Hostile-Violent" amd "Love/Hate" I've had this cd spinning in my player for over a month now, and haven't tired of it yet! Pick this album up, these guys (and girl) are awesome!

I discovered Sister Sin by accident, and although it took me some time to get used to singer Liv's vocals, I was glad that I had found this new band. Although they aren't reinventing the wheel, they do offer something different and refreshing from the mass of female fronted metal/rock bands out today. Sister Sin is essentially a band paying homage to hard rock/80's metal. To me, most bands that play music reminiscent of past eras aren't that appealing, but I think Sister Sin is going in the right direction, as they are trying to define an original sound while wearing their influences on their sleeves.

The music is great, but the band are not the greatest musicians. Instead, I think what makes this band and this album stand out is the attitude, aggression, emotion, and drive which are present throughout the whole time and creates their recognizable sound. Liv is not an amazing singer, but her voice is unique, and part of the reason she sounds so different from many female singers in metal or rock is the ferocity and attitude that she delivers (without having to resort to sounding like a man). However, some songs, namely the title track, has Liv showing that she can sing in a softer and lower range. I am looking forward to her developing her vocals on their next album!

Lots of nice catchy songs, but the highlights of Switchblade Serenades are the title track, "Hostile/Violent," and "On Parole," despite it being a single and all. I do think some songs are a bit over-indulgent and sound rather cocky, like "Breaking New Ground" but it doesn't lessen the appeal of the band over all. There isn't that much variety on the album; most songs are 3 to 4 minutes long and follow a similar formula. I really do wish that the guitarists go beyond just mimicing the chorus of each song, and think of some original riffs, as I can only find maybe one or two of those on the album. Not too much technicality on here either.

I think with a bit of growth, this band could be great. For now, they've got some catchy, aggressive tunes different from the prevalent sound of metal and rock today, and I hope they get more recognition over the years as I believe they deserve it.

You know, I never thought I'd have anything by Victory Records on my shelf (sorry, I'm just not a hardcore fan), but that was before I ran across a cutout copy of Switchblade Serenades, the 2008 debut by Sister Sin. The disc was cheap and they used the terms "metal," "Motorhead" and "Motley Crue" on the label, so I was powerless to resist.

It turns out the Swedish rockers, led by powerhouse vocalist Liv, play old school, kick in the teeth hard rock along the lines of Motorhead, Motley Crue and Girlschool. I think their closest peers are probably fellow Swedes Crucified Barbara. I'm always up for high-octane rock n' roll like this, especially when the band has a female vocalist who doesn't go the whole "delicate flower" route. The songs on Switchblade Serenades have plenty of punch, a good sense of melody (they're Swedish after all) and Liv does a great job belting out these rock anthems.

Kudos to Victory for branching out into hard rock territory, and for picking a band this good. I'd recommend Sister Sin to anyone who still enjoys the 80's hard rock sound, especially bands like Motorhead and Girlschool. If you like what you hear, be sure to check out some of the other bands that are bringing hard rock back, like Crucified Barbara, Airbourne, Hardcore Superstar and Babylon Bombs.

It's such a cliché to say there is something in the water in Scandinavia but for some reason they just keep pounding the planet with great bands of almost all genres in the hard `n' heavy end of the spectrum. Whether it be Nightwish et al making all sorts of great noise to black metal (let's face it - it's darn near a national sport in Norway) and everything in between. And included in that broad sweep of genres are rawk rock/hair metal/whatever you wanna call it.

And rawk rock probably sums up Sister Sin who, led by their female vocalist Liv, really do it well. Technicality isn't the point with this stuff, what it really requires is oomph - some sort of X factor that takes it from puerile to kickin'. While many of the musical moves contained herein won't be making Nightwish quake in their corsets, nor the musicianship make Yngwie Malmsteen nervous these guys attack the task at hand with such relish it doesn't become an issue.

And lyrically it's a fairly similar tale - you only have to read the lyrics of Breaking New Ground (which I can't print here) to realise that these guys are quite pointedly NOT breaking new ground for most of these songs. But what the hay, when it sounds like a party and smells of guilty leather you have to leave your intelligencia pretensions behind and get in line to quaff heartily of the brew. Having said that, the lyrics of some tunes, particularly the title track, do have a heck of a lot of bite and there is something nasty in the brew here lurking in the shadows. Oh, and covering a Motorhead tune is always good for street cred.

All up this is very much a heart warming and brain numbing exploration of not much at all. Which is exactly what it sets out to be and the listener is either on board or isn't. Personally I'm looking forward to their future releases

A four piece band from Sweden, formed in 2002. Their name reflects ' a bound to absolutely nothing lifestyle.' While I'm not quite sure what they mean by that, give them a try. They are unique !

Attitude, Voice, Metal, It's enough for me. The music and lyrics are like gasoline thrown on the fire.