SAINTS & SINNERS may have arrived a bit late into the scene, but these Canadians released in 1992 one of the best Melodic Hard Rock albums that year. As requested, here’s their self-titled album ”Saints & Sinners” in its better sounding, hard to find Japanese Edition.
Produced and Engineered by Aldo Nova who also helped with some arrangements to provide that incredible early ’90s sonic sheen, ”Saints & Sinners” is a must have for fans of the genre. Including Sword’s Rick Hughes on vocal duties and Night Ranger keyboardist Jesse Bradman, we find a killer song after song here.
This album cooks right from the start with ‘Shake’, a big blast of polished Melodic Hard Rock. Hughes has a great straight ahead rock voice and the track a really good swing to it while the chorus is a winner. Big time rock guitar with a super duper cool solo leads the charge…
After ‘Shake’ is finished it’s onto ‘Rip It Up’ which once again features some stellar guitar work, rumbling bass lines and another great chorus. More hard rocking the senses. If you need a fix of late ’80s /early ’90s hard rock, you will love ‘Walk That Walk’, the furious ‘Kiss The Bastards’, and ‘Wheels of Fire’.
Even the more melodic things like ‘Takin My Chances’ and ‘Lesson of Love’ may have a midtempo structure, but the drums keep the pace moving along thank you very much.
‘Frankenstein’ is ta killer stomp that is actually an interesting move by these guys to put a track this long on a mainstream commercial Melodic Hard Rock release. It’s an elaborated piece but catchy as Hell, like 3 songs into 1. An epic rocking piece as Rick sings “Close my eyes / He comes alive / Frankenstein! The keys on this just add an big atmospheric sonic layer.
I must mention that Aldo Nova brings out a clean big sounding production, crisp, powerful. The dude knows what he is doing behind the recording console.
“Saints & Sinners” is a fantastic Melodic Hard Rock record. It’s really a shame these guys came out so late in the game, disbanding a year after this sole release. The Western release features a car on the cover art, this better sounding Japanese pressing just the band’s logo.
If you’re looking for a Melodic Hard Rock gem, seek this one out!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
01 – Shake
02 – Rip It Up
03 – Walk That Walk
04 – Takin’ My Chances
05 – Kiss The Bastards
06 – Wheels Of Fire
07 – Lesson Of Love
08 – We Belong
09 – Frankenstein (Intro)
10 – Frankenstein
11 – Slippin’ Into Darkness
Rick Hughes – Lead Vocals
Stephane Dufour – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jesse Bradman – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Martin Bolduc – Bass, Backing Vocals
Jeff Salem – Drums
with:
Aldo Nova – Keyboards, Programming, Additional Acoustic Guitars
Bass – Michael Larocque, Tim Harrington, Alan Abrahams
Drums – Daniel Hughes, Peter Barbeau
Alan Jordan – Backing Vocals