If you’re like me, your exposure to Greek life consists of the weekly Gyro and passing by an occasional sorority house on your way to work. (If you live near a college campus, or maybe you don’t but want to take the long way to work.) W.A.N.T.E.D. is my first taste of Greek Hard Rock. Like the Gyro, they’ve got some meaty hooks that seem to get better the more you listen.
God’s Best Sinners is their third full-length offering since forming in 2001. The press release says it should be targeted at Guns & Roses and Whitesnake fans, but unlike some bands you can tell that W.A.N.T.E.D has digested music since 1990, so there are more modern elements included that wouldn’t be out of place on a Shinedown, Evanescence or Journey album.
While the guitar is at the forefront, the keyboard isn’t a backseat accompanist. Angelos Gerogiannis weaves his parts and paints the picture but leaves room for new guitarist Tom Hellfinger to add this color as well. Hellfinger was a last minute addition to W.A.N.T.E.D so what could have been a fine mess is actually well constructed with Constantine Matis (drums) and Strutter (bass) forming the bedrock of the album. The track “Good to be Bad” is a prime example of what could have been a cluster but turns out to be a good rocker. Vocalist Dean Mess took me the longest to warm up to. He’s not a power singer, he doesn’t stay up high like the 80’s singer did or stay low like the 90’s guys. Like Brent Smith of Shinedown he’s got his own thing going and it fits the tracks on God’s Best Sinners.
As far as the tracks, this was hard to review because this is an album that slowly grows on you. Except for the featured video, “Something to do with You” which isn’t half bad if you can get past the annoying tremolo opening, there isn’t really a bad track in the bunch. “Joanna” is a track that wouldn’t be out of place next to Halestorm or Shinedown on modern rock radio. “Eats You Like Prey” and the title track “God’s Best Sinners” rise above the mediocre generic rock format with meaty hooks and catchy lines.
W.A.N.T.E.D’s God’s Best Sinners worth checking out for any meat and potatoes hard rock fan. Like so many favorite albums in my collection, this isn’t one that is going to immediately blow you away, but it will keep you coming back for more.
W.A.N.T.E.D’s God’s Best Sinners is available on Perris Records April 29, 2016.
Read The Meister‘s Decibel Geek review for W.A.N.T.E.D‘s 2013 album, Meat n’ Greed: Meister is W.A.N.T.E.D in Greece
BUY: W.A.N.T.E.D – God’s Best Sinners
W.A.N.T.E.D Website / W.A.N.T.E.D Facebook[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7wkTHc_R90[/embedyt]
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