VELVET THUNDER

Sinner’s Blood is a new heavy rock band from Chile with The Mirror Star being the debut release and it is sure to be one that picks up positive reviews as it is a most impressive traditional heavy metal record. The line-up is James Robledo on vocals, Nasson on guitar/ vocals/keyboards, Nicolas Fischer on bass/ vocals and Guillermo Pereira on drums and they make for an incredibly tight and structured band. Nasson has made a name for himself as a producer, singer and musician and you may have already heard his work with the second album from Chaos Magic which is an exceptional female fronted metal band on which Caterina Nix is sensational.

Nasson is a rare talent, he wrote the songs and provides phenomenal guitar on The Mirror Star and he seems to know a thing or two about vocalists as James Robledo is sensational and is another singer with a sound and delivery very much influenced by Ronnie James Dio and it is a testimony to the late genius’s talent that he left such a legacy to inspire so many new and upcoming artists! Sinner’s Blood is a band that delights in heavy, melodic metal and is definitely influenced by ’70s metal and Rising-era Rainbow in particular and can be classed in the same category as bands such as Lords Of Black, Restless Spirits, Last In Line and, of course, Jorn Lande.

James Robledo has also performed with Renegade (Chile) and Thabu (Argentina) and based on his performance here then he is going to be as very much in demand singer and I would expect him to follow a similar path to that taken by his fellow country man, Ronnie Romero . His style is all action with tremendous power and he is another of those great singers that infuse their music with so much emotion. However, this is not the James Robledo show, far from it, as all of the musicians perform heroically with the drums of Pereira being a relentless barrage of epic proportions with Fischer’s thundering bass lines not in any danger of being over shadowed. Over all of this is the exquisite guitar of Nasson and he riffs and solos magnificently. The Mirror Star is a remarkable and relentless, heavy metal album on which the energy levels never drop and metal epic follows metal epic. The tempo does slow briefly half way through the album for the orchestrated and moving ballad Forever which is a beautiful piece drenched in emotion but this is only a momentary respite as the fireworks immediately kick in again with the frantic and in your face Kill Or Die. The 7-minute Who Am I is possibly the track of the album, a slow burning and brooding monster full of simmering menace.

Sinner’s Blood is a new band but one that will be around for some time based on the quality of the material and the superb level of musicianship and with a singer with Robledo’s capabilities then anything is possible for them. This is a powerful heavy metal album that has the potential to be an all time classic.