Sin Starlett is a heavy metal band from Switzerland formed in 2005, releasing their debut album ‘Call To The Punisher’ in 2008. The band have released three more albums – ‘Throat Attack’ (2012), ‘Digital Overload’ (2016), and ‘Solid Source Of Steel’, emerging in 2022.
Over the years, the band have established a reputation for their energetic live shows, and are able to transport that energy into the studio.
The band’s fourth album ‘Solid Source Of Steel’ is much more than a solid source of steel, it’s an immense source of unrelenting and unabashed steel! For nigh on fifty minutes, Sin Starlett crackle with electrifying energy, delivering eight barnstorming heavy metal romps. The band open the album with the six and a half minute long title song ‘Solid Source Of Steel’ – a tension-filled and atmospheric first minute leading into some glorious traditional metal style riffing, and we’re off! Oh, the sound of old school heavy metal is wonderful, especially for this old metal head that grew up during the evolutionary eighties. Such a great time. The band follow the opening six and a half minute barrage with a seven and a half minute one – ‘Rule Or Obey’! A more mellow introduction before all hell breaks loose, ‘Rule Or Obey’ is pure old school flavoured. The amount of music on offer from just eight songs is phenomenal, each and every song is guaranteed to keep your head banging for a long time.
Picking up the tempo and injecting even more energy, ‘Straight And Ready’ has that instantly recognisable iconic guitar sound of the NWOBHM style of metal. That guitar sound just goes straight to my heart and reminds me why I fell in love with heavy metal in the first place – over forty years ago with the debut album from British metallers Angel Witch. Still one of my all-time favourites. Changing gear, Sin Starlett hit the gas and accelerate forward with the blistering ‘Streetlight Domino’. The fastest song heard so far, the worldwide mosh pits are gonna be in a frenzy to this one, heads relentlessly rocking back and forth. And opening with a guitar riff straight out of the Iron Maiden playbook, ‘Struck Down’ is a majestic mid-tempo thunder stomp – the sound of traditional metal stronger than ever. There is also a tension-filled epic edge to ‘Struck Down’ as it lumbers on. Think British metallers Saxon, and you’ll get some idea of what I mean.
Sin Starlett is a thousand miles and forty years away from the NWOBHM heyday, but they are pulling off that iconic sound with total aplomb. Every song so far has been rich in the texture of eighties metal – but don’t get me wrong, they’re in no way a retro band, there’s plenty of modern-day touches to keep the band’s sound alive. ‘Blessed By The Shot’ returns the album to the realms of fast-paced heavy metal, with searing guitars and screaming vocals. This is the unabashed and unashamedly traditional metal of the old school variety – the exact style I fucking love!
And I’m sure you will too. Blazing into sight, ‘Wolves Of Hamartia’ scorches the Earth with savage pace, storming ahead with an urgency not heard anywhere else on the album. Fast and furious, ‘Wolves Of Hamartia’ is a headbanger that’s gonna violently bang the heads of every metalhead everywhere. And to the final song, and one final hurrah – ‘Iron Stamina’ is up-tempo, energetic, and embodies everything great about the traditional style of heavy metal. The pace of ‘Iron Stamina’ is head bangingly attractive, and to be honest, if you haven’t been headbanging since the album began what the fuck have you been doing? Sleeping! Wake the fuck up motherfucker – you’ve just missed fifty minutes of great heavy metal.
Overall, an album of traditionally flavoured heavy metal that every lover of old school metal should have in their collection.
TRACKLIST
Solid Source Of Steel
Rule Or Obey
Straight And Ready
Streetlight Domino
Struck Down
Blessed By The Shot
Waves Of Hamartia
Iron Stamina
Sin Starlett: Facebook
Release Year: 2022
Label: Metalizer Records
Category: Album
Country: Switzerland
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire, and Metal-Roos.
