After an alright follow-up to their lesser known debut album, Dance of the Wicked, we are greeted with the third full-length Sister Sin effort, and in many ways this album is a step up from their last effort. However, in the same instance, not much has really changed from the original formula outside of what just sounds like a more solid performance compared to the previous effort. While some may still be turned away from looking into a strictly Heavy Metal act on a record label that caters to Hardcore and Emo acts, that shouldn't be a reason to keep from at least checking out this band, though many of the individuals with that mentallity are mote then likely guilty of checking out the band's vocalist. Luckily she isn't the main reason that this album has a good amount of appeal and replay value.
Sister Sin continues to write hard hitting classic Heavy Metal material with a straight forward balls out Hard Rock attitude. While some of the tracks still aren't completely engrossing for the listener, there's plenty of high energy tracks on here that will make the listener happy. "Better Than Them" is a great track that is full of hard hitting riffs as a good, mid-tempo pace that is clearly meant to emit attitude, whereas others on this album, such as the opening track "Sound of the Underground", and "24/7" have that same old school feel to it, but have a little more melody to them then attitude, and in the case of "24/7" flow more like a Hard Rock classic just amped up a bit, with vocals that really work hard at getting you charged to throw your fists in the air and scream along with the rough female vocals, but they feel a little out of place sometimes, as if there's more force in the vocals then there is in the song itself. "Beat 'Em Down" is another great track, but in the end it falls between both worlds, having some great classic Heavy Metal riffs going on, but utilizing a slightly melodic Hard Rock chorus with a nice bite to it, and makes for a very energetic and fitting closing to this high powered album.
The one main drawback to this release is the gang vocals. There are none. Instead it's just one guy doing a somewhat harmonized version of the gang chant. This really winds up hurting the album greatly. "The Devil I Know" features the same thing, but there is some layering done to give it a little more of a kick compared to some of the earlier tracks on this release that use it, like "Outrage" and "I Stand Alone". There is also a lack of diversity in the music. "Built to Last" sends things in a more Hard Rock direction, as well as the aforementioned "24/7" and even "The Devil I Know" in some extents, but most of this album follows the same musical pattern laid out with the opening song, and musically there's no real difference between tracks, as they all follow the same mid-tempo pace with "gang vocals" thrown in with a hint of Hard Rock atmosphere that utilizes essentially the same type of chorus performance. Some tracks do wind up mixing up how the chorus is performed, and quite dramatically, such as the clean sung "Times Aren't A-Changing". Even the same introductory guitar effects were used between "Times Aren't A-Changing" and "Nailbiter", though a different riff is clearly played.
True Sound of the Underground makes for a good release, but the music is nothing all that spectacular or new, just well done and has some great energy behind it and the vocals. However, the repetition that can be found through the album winds up making this release a little less enjoyable. There's no denying that this group has the chops to make it far, especially whith their incorporation of the whole Hard Rock atmosphere and attitude with their early well constructed hard hitting Heavy Metal musical compositions. Sister Sin has definitely improved over the last one, but at the same time in some aspects the band has fallen backwards a bit, and hopefully the band will dust off these minor issues, such as their no-gang gang chants and adding a liittle more edge to songs that have rough, energetic vocals, or use a vocal style that better suits the song. If you haven't checked the band out, for whatever reason, there's still plenty of good tracks on here worth checking out, and the vocal performance here is superb, as are the performances by the other members of the band.
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