adg211288
Obscure, Forgotten and Otherwise Hard to Find Metal Albums #1
Okay, this review is going to start off a bit different for me, as this is the first of what I hope to be many in a series of reviews for some of the more obscure, forgotten or otherwise hard to find (being available online no matter the legality of the download doesn't count) metal releases that I've found over the years. So with the preamble out of the way, let's begin.
Original Sin existed for a very brief time in the mid eighties. They released just this one album, entitled Sin Will Find You Out (1986) and were never heard from again. Adorning the cover artwork is a girl in the stages of putting on or taking off her bra. In a musical context this screams one thing: glam metal. Only Original Sin wasn't a glam metal act, but a full-on speed metal act, proving that a record should never be judged by its cover. This is a notion that could also be applied to the band themselves, as officially Original Sin were an all female band.
Except they weren't.
You see, the truth behind Original Sin was that they were a fabricated band much like the perhaps better known Exorcist, who were basically the band Virgin Steele in disguise, though the drummer was from a different outfit. Original Sin is actually basically the same band once again, but they've swapped David DeFeis (who sits in the producer's chair) for his sister Danae DeFeis (here using the pseudonym Danielle Draconis), who was the only actual female member of the band. The rest of the band were blokes using female names. Notably this includes Edward Pursino, who is still in Virgin Steele to this day. He went by the name Cynthia Taylor here though!
Why did they do this? Your guess is as good as mine. But despite the unusual history of Original Sin, their music was largely simplistic straight up speed metal. Sometimes though that is all you need. Sin Will Find You Out is surprisingly kickarse. I was honestly half-expecting some kind of spoof act. I'm instead reminded somewhat of the much more recent act Demona, but I find that this album sounds quite a lot stronger on all fronts. For the time period it's perhaps a bit typical sounding, but a fine example of eighties speed metal nonetheless. Danielle's vocals fit the music well. Her vocals are styled around the genre the band are playing so are quite different to the popular female vocalists of today's metal scene, but are not excessively rough either. I must admit, as a whole, Original Sin sounds a lot more in your face and direct than I ever recall Virgin Steele being.
This is quite a short album with just eight proper songs and a couple of tracks for a guitar solo piece and a bass solo piece, for a total time of just over the 33 minute mark. That's quite short by today's standards but I think an ideal length for an album like this. It's direct, never let's up the pace, and ultimately gets the job done. There are a couple of weird bits right at the start and very end of the album that I'm still not too sure what to make of, but everything in between is speed metal done right. I'm going to go with 4.5 stars for this.