Sainted Sinners – ‘High On Fire’

(Reigning Phoenix Records)

Sainted Sinners have been around a while now and always seem to deliver enjoyable and solid slabs of Hard Rock. High On Fire is their fifth album and the third to feature Jack Meille on vocals who replaced the legendary David Reece. Not an easy job but I think Meille has melded into the Sainted Sinners sound with ease like he always belonged. Fans of Tygers of Pan Tang will already know what an immense talent this guy is.

Sainted Sinners create no frill’s Hard Rock it is bombastic and fuelled by monumental guitar riffs and whiskey-soaked vocals. The songs have their roots in classic seventies style hard rock, but their sound also encapsulates some of the hard rock acts more associated with the early Eighties NWOBHM movement.

Mielle really shows off his range and talent on this album moving from a bluesy rasp to a more high-pitched metallic sounding vocal as and when the songs need it. Shifting styles suiting the tone of each song sometimes going from a Paul Rdogers-esque drawl in a verse to a Mark Slaughter tone on a chorus. Seriously he really reminds me of Mark Slaughter on his high pitch vocal delivery believe me or not, but the style is more akin to early Eighties metal acts as opposed to Slaughter the band.

High On Fire is definitely an album that works as a whole rather than as individual tracks, I could point out tracks like ‘Night After Night’ or the quirky ‘Hide In The Dark’ as tracks to look out for but in fairness it’s the songs as a unit where they actually stand out to me. I can imagine this album been played live in its entirety and kicking some serious ass. I think cherry picked songs may lack the impact listened to as an individual track.

High On Fire is a solid album, enjoyable but it’s not reinventing the wheel or breaking any boundaries. It may not be the best Sainted Sinner’s album but it’s certainly a great hard rocking opus that should have fans of UFO, Led Zeppelin and Seventies and Eighties classic rock revving their motorbike engines. You can almost smell the denim and leather coming off these songs! Their cover of The Who’s ‘Who Are You’ is sure to raise a few wan smiles from genre fans as they crack the beers open.

7/10

Essential Track – ‘Night After Night’

Review by Woody