Search - Sinner :: In the Line of Fire

"SINNER" LIVE '95: featuring basic members of "Primal Fear",

Nikiforos V. Skoumas | Athens Greece, Cambridge UK | 10/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""SINNER" LIVE '95: featuring basic members of "Primal Fear", "Silent Force", "Saxon" and "Bonfire".



No matter how chaotic the 90s were for Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bands and fans, they did offer a considerable number of fantastic albums that held the hard/heavy empire from falling apart.



Focusing on Germany and for the live part, the most appraised albums of that era tend to be "Helloween's" "High Live" (1996) and "Gamma Ray's" "Heading for the East" (1990).

Somewhere between that period Sinner put out his first and only full length live album "Live in the line of fire". An ambitious title, drawn by their latest studio release "Bottom line" (1995), was to be backed up by an all star (by today's measures) line up:

Mat Sinner ("Primal Fear", "Goddess Shiva") on bass and lead vocals, Tom Newman ("Primal Fear") and Alex Beyrodt ("Silent Force") as lead guitarists, drummer Fritz Randow (`Saxon") and Frank Roessler on keys.



Recorded during the 1995 European tour, "Live in the line of fire" is an absolute classic and a much anticipated reissue by hardcore fans. This is by no means predictable; Sinner does not play a "best of set", rather less popular songs (for the album's biggest part) which are taken to stratospheric level by the band's tremendous line up performance.

Imagine a 1995 live album with huge guitars, persistent twin guitar melodies/harmonies, double bass beat drums and extensive solos. Undoubtedly a combination unlikely to come by in the mid 90s. But how does it hold up against today's vast Hard Rock/Metal Scene? It might lack (just by a fragment) in terms of production compared to this decade's live albums still it is by far the most uncompromising recording reissue.



From a collector's perspective this is an incredibly hot documentation of how powerful 90s music could have been (potentially). No matter the circumstances, Mat Sinner has always delivered!



(This reissue also includes 4 bonus live tracks recorded in 1985, quite possibly the earliest live recordings of "Sinner".)

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