out now: Mindless Sinner -- vinyl reissue of Swedish heavy metal from the 1980s

Mindless Sinner

Turn On The Power (re-issue)

Pure Steel Records

April 30th 2021

Mindless Sinner today is a cult, traditional heavy metal band, one that started when Swedish youth began picking up instruments in the late 1970s and early 1980s because they wanted to join the action of the new, compact, faster, tighter hard rock called "heavy metal." After some band name changes, they finally settled on this one, and in 1983 they served up the EP Master of Evil. They returned in 1986 with this full-length album. The worst thing is that the album was recorded in 1984, but was not released until 1986. You have to strike when the iron is hot, otherwise you lose momentum. In addition to the arguments about the band name and album delays, they also seemed to have arguments about musical direction. Fortunately, the musical direction confusion was not present on the 1983 debut EP nor the 1984/1986 debut album.

The 1983 EP was good, but the album showed them stepping up to the plate and hitting very well. The vocals are prototypical legacy-style singing, melodic, strong and energetic. The guitar rhythms are dictionary-definition heavy metal: uptempo and charging forward. The music was hot, and the excitement of new, young Swedish heavy metal is palpable. In the nine songs in 37 minutes of duration, they keep up the head-banging energy. For example, if we confirm this by listening to the last four songs all by themselves, the sensation is still that the songs are rocking out, the vocals are still belting it out, the drumming still going strong, and the guitar solos are still rolling out like in the earlier songs, with a combination of rockers, anthems and some midtempo segments. For example, on this album, the second song "I'm Gonna (Have Some Fun)" is such good heavy metal in all aspects (singing, solo, drumming and those riffs!) that it is "practically perfect in every way."

In the late 1980s the band lost direction, and it wasn't until 2015 that they would get their musical direction straightened again, which is where they are now. Frankly, they must be enjoying their second life as Mindless Sinner a lot more than the 1980s because nowadays they have a cult status and have nothing left prove. They were there at the beginning of the wave of Swedish heavy metal, coming after pioneers like Heavy Load. Their two post-2014 albums have been sounding good and on solid footing, tracing a line to the 1983 EP and this debut album right here.

Turn On The Power by MINDLESS SINNER

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