Every party has to come to an end.
The old adage of “where does the time go?” has become far more poignant in recent years, and not necessarily due to any one icon of heavy metal’s more than 50-year history departing for the next life or calling it a career. There has been a staggered change of the guard in recent years that is difficult to miss if one prefers their sonic aggression to be of a more traditional pedigree; one has seen a new generation of artists picking up where the original NWOBHM left off, and it has even been tagged with a similar name.
On the Teutonic end of the old school spectrum stands Sinner, one of the early adherents of the craft to hit the trail that had been blazed by the pioneering efforts of Scorpions and later Accept, led by bassist/vocalist Matthias Lasch, now better known by the stage name Mat Sinner. Alongside the likes of Victory and Tyran’ Pace, they forged an impressive early metal onslaught during the 80s before the rise of the speed metal craze, though the years since have seen them outlasting the latter and have a more consistent studio output than the former.
Having soldiered on through every change in the musical landscape since their 1981 founding, Sinner is a band that has become synonymous with tenacity, and now at the end of the proverbial road they have ushered in a comprehensive celebration of their 45-year run in Boom Bang Goodbye. Being no strangers to evolving their style over time, this is an album that lives not by nostalgia, but in the present day with an accordingly modern character. A veritable who is who of vocal talent have been tapped to deliver the lyrics of what could almost be a tribute LP, not to mention bringing former guitarist Mathias Dieth back for a guest solo slot roughly 40 years to the day that he contributed to their fifth studio LP Comin’ Out Fighting.
Yet even more impressive than the large ensemble that has joined in the auditory festivities is the focused execution in the songwriting department, which heavily resembles the grandiose fanfare that Mat Sinner often helped produce during his tenure with Frontiers Records, but also flows in a streamlined fashion reminiscent of the radio-oriented material of Sinner’s formative years.
In rather stark contrast to the prior and highly successful studio entry Brotherhood, the tone set is of a far lighter and more optimistic tone. Right from the opening melodic guitar luster of “Dreams Can Come True”, the feel of things is auspiciously upbeat and triumphant, and the culmination of what follows mixes earworm hooks with a soaring vocal display out of Renan Zonta seamlessly.
Subsequent banger entries like “Wait” and the more poignant semi-ballad turned epic crusher “Leave It All Behind” follow a similar path of infectious hooks and brevity, albeit with a little more grit between the respective vocal performances of Michael Bormann and Ronnie Romero, and a heavier tone more in line with the traditional metal side of Sinner’s extensive career. Things seesaw back to a more light-hearted tone with the 80s AOR-like rocker “All Night Long” and the inspirational “Are You Ready”, the latter seeing Bjorn “Speed” Strid bring that signature clean cut swagger he’s been showcasing via The Night Flight Orchestra, all the while the dual guitar assault of Alex Scholpp and Kissin’ Dynamite’s own Jim Muller masterfully blend tasteful melodies with virtuosic flair.
While the opening half of this fun-filled opus is an impressive ride, what follows is where the metal truly meets the road. The somewhat unoriginally named “Born To Run” strikes up a haunting mood with a lone acoustic line before landing on a down-tempo metallic stomp, spearheaded by a riveting vocal display out of Eclipse’s own Erik Martensson, though the real action comes out of the insanely expressive lead guitar display laid down by Mathias Dieth.
The riff-happy metallic punch of “Hellbreaker” proves the perfect backdrop for Ronnie Romero’s Dio-inspired forceful vocal approach; meanwhile, the almost pop/rock smoothness of “Turn The Page” finds a correspondingly clean-cut yet explosive display out of Canadian progressive rock titans Saga’s helmsman Michael Sadler. The final stretch of this grand final hurrah is where things reach an apex, culminating in a massive trifecta of banger entries in fast-paced “Road To Remember”, the riff-driven mid-paced beast “Under The Moonlight” and the explosive finale featuring the virtuoso guitar chops and vocal talent of Magnus Karlsson, “Power”.
It’s never an easy thing, coming to terms with the truth of the saying that all good things come to an end, even if in this particular case Mat Sinner’s ongoing work with Primal Fear will continue into the foreseeable future. The Sinner brand carries a legacy that stood with a stiff upper lip through the trials of late 80s glam excess, the malaise of 90s grunge and alternative rock, and played a role in the revival of true metal in Europe at the turn of the millennium.
To say that it’s near half a century run as a heavy metal institution has been a consequential one would be putting it lightly, but the march of time (apologies to Helloween) does eventually see us all reaching new horizons. Be this all as it may, Boom Bang Goodbye is the sort of final note that any outfit should be proud of striking before the close of the curtain, and for those with a taste for the sort of anthem-oriented pomp and circumstance that Frontiers Records has been dishing out for the past 20 years, or for metal with a melody in general, this is made to order.
Release Date: July 31, 2026
Record Label: Reigning Phoenix Music
Genre: Hard Rock
Musicians:
- Lisa Müller / Keyboards
- Mat Sinner / Vocals & Bass
- Alex Scholpp / Guitars
- Moritz Müller / Drums
- Jim Müller / Guitars
Guest Musicians:
- Ronnie Romero / Vocals (Tracks 3, 4, 7)
- Björn “Speed” Strid / Vocals (Track 5)
- Erik Mårtensson / Vocals (Track 6)
- Renan Zonta / Vocals (Track 1)
- Magnus Karlsson / Vocals & Lead Guitars (Track 11)
- Michael Bormann / Vocals (Tracks 2, 9)
- Michael Sadler / Vocals (Track 8)
- Sascha Krebs / Vocals (Track 10)
- Mathias Dieth / Lead Guitars (Track 6)
Boom Bang Goodbye Tracklist:
- Dreams Can Come True
- Wait
- Leave It All Behind
- All Night Long
- Are You Ready
- Born to Run
- Hellbreaker
- Turn the Page
- Road to Remember
- Under the Moonlight
- Power
Order the album here.
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