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Sinbreed > When Worlds Collide > Reviews
Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide

Filling The Power Metal Ranks - 85%

WishmasterTheDark, February 4th, 2012

When I listened to Dust To Dust for the very first time, I was not impressed at all. It seemed like another mediocre song by another mediocre band. After few months I gave it a try again, and I realized I was dead wrong. I guess rough vocals with melodic color and fast, heavy and powerful riffs were too raw for the very first listen. Then I checked out Newborn Tomorrow, because these two songs have music videos. I was blown away with its nicely done acoustic guitar intro, aggressive riffs, face-melting tempo, kick-ass refrains and rough-melodic vocals. That was enough to check out the rest of the album. Book Of Life continues with like these two, with fast tempo, massive drum work, enjoyable rhythms, solid guitar solo, killer vocals and heavy riffs. It seemed this is one of those keyboard-free power metal bands, but things are different with When Worlds Collide. It is slower than these three songs I mentioned above, it has solid riffs basically power chords, enjoyable vocals, tempo and rhythm, and suddenly keyboards appeared in refrain as a backing instrument, just to make more pleasant ambient.

That keyboard touch really nice. I hoped there won't be more, but then came Through The Dark with keyboard intro, Enemy Lines which has keyboard solo without a note from electric guitar, besides power chords, Arise has some keyboard backing intro and jump in some other places, and Ride On contains notable amount of them. First of all, this band doesn't need keyboards at all. Each of these songs still could have been excellent without them. Instead of that keyboard solo in Enemy Lines, Flo Laurin was supposed to make a goddamn guitar solo. Keyboards choke lead guitar sound in Arise, not much, but it's notable. Riffs supposed to make even bigger killer combination with crunchy lead guitar work, but I guess they wanted to make it sound smooth. So, why I don't support keyboards here is because they were not necessary at all, and since they don't have keyboardist as a permanent band member, they will have to play keyboard parts on playback, right? I totally approve them for making masterpiece like Salvation. It's faster song with lesser tempo changes, full of enjoyable melodies done with keyboards, intense riffs, well-written lyrics etc. Drummer Frederik Ehmke really made amazing work, which is technical, creative and he uses double bass pedal to make things even better, Salvation proves that.

Other band members are great too. Singer Herbie Langhans took the whole thing to a higher level because of his melodic-rough color, bass guitar player Alex Schulz was not remarkable, but he played some really fast notes, 'cause was following the drums whole the time. Band members are not outstanding as individuals, but as a team they did amazing job, and they can make more great songs in the future. They have skill, talent and creativity, but maybe sometimes they lack inspiration. Probably Flo invited keyboardist as guests due to lack of inspiration for guitar work. Their weaker efforts are Room 101 and Arise. Arise relies on refrains which are rather weak. I has some hooky melodic parts, enjoyable tempo, but that's not good song. Room 101 has good amount of solid and memorable riffs, and guitar solo, but song doesn't leave good impression at all. There's also Japanese edition with bonus song Ride On. Don't even try to get that edition since Ride On is mediocrity at its best. Constantly the same drum beats, barely memorable, not well-inspired riffs, short, solid and technical guitar solo, lyrics are crap, but vocals make the song sound better than it really is.

Good sides of this release:
They made lots of excellent songs. Songs have really strong structure, from well made heavy riffs, nice lead guitars, creative drums with interesting technical work and double bass pedals played excellent role. Interesting thing is there are no ballads here, but some mid tempo songs, while most of them are fast. Lyrics are great, well-written and full of wisdom, vocals fit the band well, and Sinbreed as a whole is really refreshing and original band. It would be foolish to compare them with any other band, since connection between heavy metal bands is quite obvious, regardless of the sub-genre whom they belong to. This is very good debut album, and recommended for every metalhead.

Bad sides of this release:
Except for Salvation, keyboards weren't necessary at all. Standard version of this studio album has weak songs Arise and Room 101. If you get Japanese edition, you will get mediocre song Ride On for the same price, so don't spend time looking for it.

Highlights:
Newborn Tomorrow, Book Of Life, When Worlds Collide, Dust To Dust, Infinity's Call, Through The Dark, Enemy Lines and Salvation.

Some good song-breeding going on here. - 87%

hells_unicorn, January 11th, 2012

There has scarcely been a day over the past 3-4 years where I haven't caught myself on the verge of regurgitating that tired yet timeless idiom "they don't make them like they used to" when encountering newer power metal bands. Having been an avid consumer of this style since my late teens, I've generally regarded the 1997-2003 era to have been the style's zenith, at least since the break up of Kiske era Helloween. While many complain about bands not evolving enough, I wonder what the hell happened to the good old days when playing orthodox German speed metal wasn't frowned upon. Sinbreed, formerly known as Neoshine, becomes an inevitable saving grace in light of all this, as under their previous namesake they started out in the midst of the style's renaissance, though they didn't get a finished product out until just recently.

The best way to describe this highly polished and impressive debut is as a beautifully nuanced meeting place between two fairly different sounds. The bulk of the guitar work, the gritty and hard as steel vocal work of Herbie Langhans (picture a Chris Boltendahl with a stronger high range and a slight Bruce Dickinson edge), and the streamlined songwriting definitely hint at a very German oriented band, which obviously makes sense given their location. But there are also subtle melodic guitar and keyboard elements that hint a tiny bit at a Swedish character at times, not all that far off from the stuff Sabaton and Stormwind were doing around the time that this band was still toiling in the underground under the Neoshine moniker. Everybody in this outfit pulls their weight in the technique department, but the songwriting is king here, and his rule is quite regal indeed.

Perhaps the best way to sum up the whole of "When Worlds Collide" is somewhere along the lines of a celebration of metal, but without paying lyrical tribute to the genre. When hearing the pretty straightforward metal fanfares with a double bass happy drummer that are "Salvation", "Enemy Lines" and "Book Of Life", one can't help but be reminded of the Iron Maiden meets speed metal brilliance of Cryonic Temple (before the deviation that occurred on "Immortal"), but with a focus on the more lyrically relevant songs that said Swedish act put forth such as "Rivers Of Pain". It's the sort of music that you know has been done many times before, and yet you can't help but smile and sing along. In fact, take away the galloping riff work and raucous drums, and the fairly mid-tempo title song "Two Worlds Collide" could pass for an Accept reinterpretation of an AC/DC song.

It's difficult to go wrong with a band like this, particularly if catchy is your poison. It reminds of those glorious days when leather clad impresarios with microphone in hand would lead an ensemble of metal maniacs into a celebration of epic proportions, perhaps even occasionally imparting some lyrical wisdom in the process (though that varied depending on the sub-genre persuasion of the band at times). Fans of olden heavy metal glory, from the early days of the German scene in Accept and Scorpions, all the way up through the revival of the late 90s embodied in Iron Savior, Paragon and many others, this is yet another satisfying slice of bread and butter, no additional spice required.

Melodic, power and speed metal all rolled into one - 70%

TrooperOfSteel, January 10th, 2012

From out of Wiesbaden, Germany comes a fairly new European melodic power metal band called Sinbreed. Initially called Neoshine way back in 2000, the band went nowhere and released nothing except for a couple of demo's in 2005 and 2007. For legal reasons, Neoshine had to change their name due to a conflict with another band, hence Sinbreed was born in 2008. After another demo released in 2009, Sinbreed jumped on board the little known (but definitely going places) label Ulterium Records. And so in March of 2010, Sinbreed released their debut album, entitled 'When Worlds Collide'.

Now fans of melodic power metal band Seventh Avenue and also Symphony X and Vanden Plas should take note and have a closer look at Sinbreed. The reason, Sinbreed is led by Seventh Avenue vocalist Herbie Langhans, while the album was mixed and mastered by Markus Teske, who has previously worked with Symphony X and Vanden Plas. Now, if you're asking who Herbie Langhans is, firstly check out Seventh Avenue to get an idea, but secondly Langhans has that same raspy type of voice that is very similar to Running Wild's Rockin' Rolf. However Langhans can be much more melodic in his delivery. Rounding out the band is drummer Frederik Ehmke (Blind Guardian), bassist Alex Schulz and guitarist/keyboardist Florian Laurin.

Sinbreed cover quite a few metal genres within their album 'When Worlds Collide', including melodic metal, power metal and also speed metal. Whilst Sinbreed's metal style has been done by other bands thousands of times before, you can hear, however, a moderately high level of professionalism and creativity by all involved. Adding further depth to the release is the involvement of guest musicians. The guests include keyboardists Morten Sandager (Pretty Maids) and Joost van den Broek (ex-After Forever, ex-Ayreon, Star One) and also vocalist Thomas Rettke (ex-Heavens Gate).

For fans of bands such as Grave Digger, Firewind, Seventh Avenue, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Savage Circus and all the rest, 'When Worlds Collide' contains fiery and speedy guitar riffs throughout, with Herbie's vocals giving just that right amount of grunt and melody. Despite the song-writing being fairly standard and the majority of the speedy tracks all following the same structure (drumming and guitar leads), they do give off a powerful and emotional vibe and are quite enjoyable in the moment. The disc is never short on blistering and exuberant solos, which is one of the main factors why 'When Worlds Collide' is a solid melodic power metal release.

I would say that the first half of the disc convincingly out-weights the second, with song highlights including CD opener "Newborn Tomorrow", "Book of Life", "Through the Dark" and the title track "When Worlds Collide". The best of the ferocious speedy tracks, however, is "Dust to Dust". The track is a winner from start to finish, with kick ass guitar riffs and a brilliant solo to boot. The chorus is very memorable and there is enough aggression from Herbie's raspy vocals to keep your head banging. The top pick from the slower mid-paced tracks (there aren't that many) is "Enemy Lines". Again boasting a catchy chorus, the track is probably the most diverse out of all the tracks on the album. Lastly, there is another killer solo to seal the deal of its greatness.

There seems to be a slight over-use of the keyboards, no doubt the guest keyboardists on the album wanted to make their mark while they had the chance. It's just a small piece of criticism in the scale of things aside from the fact that the song-writing is very safe are rarely changes from its core structure. Once the dust has settled, however, 'When Worlds Collide' is overall a fairly solid melodic power metal release and worth looking out for if you are a fan of the above-mentioned bands, particularly Seventh Avenue.

Originally written for www.themetalforge.com

Thickening the ranks - 70%

autothrall, March 30th, 2010

Sinbreed was a band once known as Neoshine a few years back, but have changed their name...for the better, and with a pair of heavy hitters in tow from other, well-known bands, they've put together a fine sounding debut of aggressive power metal that should satisfy fans of Grave Digger, Persuader, Blind Guardian, Iron Savior, Paragon and the lot of them. By heavy hitters I am referring to Frederick Ehmke, the latest Blind Guardian drummer, and Herbie Langhans, the frontman for Seventh Avenue, who are joined by the core of of Alex Schulz on bass and Florian Laurin on guitars. Though Sinbreed's style is nothing new, the band do put a strong emphasis on their songwriting, incorporating savage riffs that evoke memories of mid-to-later Running Wild, Grave Digger and the like, with strong chorus vocals and eager harmonies.

"Newborn Tomorrow" is a good example of the band's entire range, and a strong starter, opening with the glint of dual acoustic melodies and Langhans' passionate delivery over a solid barrage of driving chords that keep the piece moving ever forward. When it breaks for the lead, the notes soar gracefully atop the chords, and weave through an impressive display around 3:30. With "Book of Life", the band continues to hammer away, with a pretty similar structure. Other fun and upbeat numbers include the raging "Dust to Dust", "Infinity's Call" and "Through the Dark". None of the writing will exactly blow you away, but the riffs remain tight and well composed, and the vocal performance is steady. To the band's credit, there is no whiny power ballad here to try and shake you out of your pure power metal fixation, it's a very level album, and I speculate that regardless of how you queue it up, you'll probably enjoy 2-3 songs and then move along to something else, since most of the tracks simply lack that extra 'something' to hook you in further.

As if power metal were the new rap music, this is yet another album to incorporate a few guest appearances: Morten Sandager of Pretty Maids, Joost van den Broek of Ayreon/Star One, and Thomas Rettke of Heaven's Gate are the veterans lending their stamp of approval to When Worlds Collide, but nothing to tip the favor of the album any further than just 'good'. A lot of patience and caution went into the mix, it's a professional sounding studio job that places it at the forefront of German power metal alongside the bands that have inspired it, but the great sound only makes the album's lack of being able to truly capitalize on all the involved talent that much more glaring. Sinbreed is solid, and might appeal to the German fanatic who wants more meat on the block to carve through, whether it's the likes of Blind Guardian or At Vance. But the songs written here are not truly memorable enough to last long after the interaction.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com