By Andrew Bansal
Swedish sleaze/punk rock band Sister, not to be confused with the 70s’ LA hard rock band of the same name, have been around since 2006. The quartet toured Europe heavily throughout their first few years and after signing to Metal Blade Records, they released their debut album ‘Hated’ in 2011. Today, on January 21st 2014, they’ve put out their sophomore effort ‘Disguised Vultures’ and musically it builds upon what the band has done in the past, along with attempting to capture the energy and attitude that they bring forth in their live performances. This style of hard rock has largely disappeared during the last two decades due to the manner in which the genre evolved. So whenever a band like Sister puts out a new album of original material, for fans of that era, it’s a call to arms.
The 40-minute, 10-track album starts out all guns blazing with ‘My Enemy’ and straightaway the spark in the band’s musicianship. A fast-paced tune with catchy riffs, high-energy vocals and a lively rhythm section, it serves as the ideal opener for an album of this nature. Next comes ‘Sick’, the song chosen as the single. It maintains the effervescent attitude of its predecessor but settles into a mid-paced tempo before the guitar solo bursts it back to full speed again. The rest of the album continues to offer tunes that demonstrate a strong dosage of raw attitude and energy, and when combined with an unmistakable level of catchiness in the music itself, it gets the listener hooked.
The band excels in a compact, concise style of songwriting, coming up with an album where the majority of the songs are around the four-minute mark in terms of duration and make for great repeat-play value. Songs like ‘Arise’, ‘Slay Yourself’, and ‘(Stop The) Revolution’ are undoubtedly going to catch on with listeners more than the others, but ‘We Salute ‘Em’ is perhaps the highlight of the album and is aptly positioned in the track listing. It’s the kind of tune that stays in your head long after they’re done listening to it, and at times and places where you don’t have access to it, it’s going to make you restless. The sleaze/punk infused hard rock style had its golden years in the 80s, and there was certainly something about that era which brought success to bands pursuing it at the time, but Sister are on a mission to prove that it’s not been forgotten, and the quality of musicianship, production and the overall vibe of this album vindicates their efforts.
This might sound like a deadly proposition considering how much crack Guns N’ Roses themselves were on when in their prime, but Sister’s ‘Disguised Vultures’ can be best described as Guns N’ Roses on crack, and fans of the genre would be well-served to pick it up.
Rating: 9.5/10
Record Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: January 21st 2014
Track Listing:
1. My Enemy
2. Sick
3. Disguised Vultures
4. Arise
5. We Salute ‘Em
6. Slay Yourself
7. Naked
8. DMN
9. (Stop The) Revolution
10. Please Kill Me
Links:
SisterOfficial.com
facebook.com/SisterBand
twitter.com/Sister_Official
youtube.com/SisterOfficial