What do you do, if you don't own your own music anymore. Re-record it! That seems to be the new trend, for bands that got screwed back in the day, The latest band to do that was Sinner. Sinner have just hand picked 11 tracks, from their past, to re-record for their latest release, Touch of Sin 2. As a bonus, the band has also included 3 new tracks to get the tally of the CD up to 14 tracks. Pretty sweet. Of the new tracks, my favorite is their cover of the Thin Lizzy classic Don't Believe a Word. The band has put a new spin on this classic, and it works. The other new track to kick my ass, is Blood in the Sand, which also pays homage to Thin Lizzy. There are some nice guitar harmonies, ala Gorham and Robertson. It is no secret, that Mat is a Lizzy fan and he does some fitting tributes on this release.
I have to say I really dug the re-records as well. To be honest, I didn't discover Sinner until the mid-90's, on the The Nature of Evil record, so the material on this disk, was pretty new to me. There are some really strong tracks, like the opener Born to Rock, which starts off with a killer heavy riff, reminiscent of classic Accept. The next track to grab my ear was the mid-tempo rocker, Knife in my Back. It is a killer tune, with a catchy melody and chorus. That is the thing about this CD, every track has that winning formula. The only knock, that I can give the record, is that some of the lyrics are a bit cheesey, but you do have to remember, these tracks were written in the 80's. This one will make old fans happy and hopefully win over some new recruits.
Bottom Line: Sinner breathing life into some forgotten treasures. This is a solid release from start to finish. Take the cheese factor our of the lyrics and this one contends to be one of the stronger releases from Sinner, in some time.
Tracks to give the Horns Up to: Born to Rock, Don't Believe a Word, Knife in My Heart and Shout.
-Ragman wished that other re-records came out this well. Nice job lads!