As I’m sure I’ve said before, Mat Sinner is one of those musicians who always seems to be involved in something; be it with Sinner, Primal Fear, Rock Meets Classic or some other collaboration. This time, specifically, it’s the new Sinner album “Santa Muerte” which was released by AFM Records on 13th September. Sinner releases are always worth checking out and this one is even more note-worthy as it features the addition of Italian singer Giorgia Colleluori to the band as well as guest appearances from Ricky Warwick and Ronnie Romero. The track “Fiesta Y Copas” was featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show in July, followed by “Last Exit Hell” on 23rd August and “Death Letter” on 13th September.


 

Bass player Mat Sinner formed Sinner back in 1982. Between then and 1987 the band released six studio albums before taking a break for five years. The band re-emerged in 1992 and over the next twenty-five years released another twelve studio albums, a live album and several compilation albums. Throughout most of that period Mat Sinner was also a driving force behind Primal Fear which he formed in 1997, releasing twelve studio albums.

 

As you’d expect with a rock band that’s been going for over thirty-five years there have been numerous line-up changes over the years. Mat Sinner is the central figure of course – as vocalist and bass player. Guitarist Tom Naumann was part of the initial line-up (and also formed Primal Fear with Mat in 1997) and he rejoined the band in 2016 following a second absence. The other guitarist is Alex Scholpp who joined in 2011 and the drummer is Markus Kullmann who joined the band this year. The other new arrival is vocalist Giorgia Colleluori (External Idol / Hollow Haze) who Mat initially recruited for ‘Rock Meets Classic’ before deciding that she could also add a new dimension to Sinner.


The “Santa Muerte” album also features Ricky Warwick on vocals for the track “What Went Wrong” (after Mat and he met on ‘Rock Meets Classic’); Ronnie Romero (from Rainbow, The Ferrymen, CoreLeoni etc) on vocals for the track “Fiesta Y Copas” and guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Allen/Lande etc) on the track “Death Letter”. That track is a version of an old blues song, also previously covered by the White Stripes.

 

AFM Records are always very good at enticing vinyl collectors with limited edition coloured vinyl versions of their album releases. I went for the yellow / red splatter version that is limited to 100 copies.

 

Mat Sinner was my guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show back in January 2016 – http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews/2460-ni-rocks-interview-with-mat-sinner-primal-fear-sinner-etc.html . You can check out more information on all his projects via his website - http://www.matsinner.com/



About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!