SINNER – Tequila Suicide (Album Review)

Sinner, led by Mat Sinner, hail from Stuttgart, Germany. These rockers have been around since the early 1980’s and they’ve released an album every couple years since then. If you’re a hard rocker who grew up in the 1980’s – and if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you are – then you already know what Sinner’s latest installment, Tequila Suicide, sounds like. Sinner is a memory frozen in time. They are hard rock straight out of the annals of Ronald Reagan’s first term, for all of the good and the bad that that suggests. Think Saxon. Think Accept. If you like your singers to swallow a fistful of nails before they sing, you should check out Tequila Suicide. If you’re into badass doubled lead guitars, you should check out Tequila Suicide. If you love lyrics about cool shit like dragons, tequila, and fistfights…and one obligatory tune about that bitch that broke your heart…you should check out Tequila Suicide.

Sinner has never sold a lot of records. And you know what, they don’t give a fuck. They’re not changing their formula for anybody. They’ve never caved to corporate pressures and they’ve never chased the latest trend. After the 1980’s ended, and it became illegal for musicians to play their instruments competently, they threw even more squealing lead guitar in your face and turned it up to 11. They wore black leather on stage in the 1990’s when everyone else was wearing their grandma’s sweaters. You have to respect a band that stays true to who they are, no matter what.

Sinner is a live band. You probably aren’t going to hear Tequila Suicide on your local hard rock radio station. But don’t let that dissuade you. Radio sucks, anyway. Sinner is one of those bands that make you throw up your horns with one hand and your beer in the other and wake up the following day with a hangover and your ears ringing. The studio has never quite been able to capture Sinner’s live essence. But Tequila Suicide comes damn close. For a little taste from just last week, check out the video below.

Jerry Lee Lucifer

BUY: TEQUILA SUICIDE