Various Artists - Sin-Atra
It wasn't too many years ago that there was a glut of crooners attempting to make a quick buck performing lounge/swing versions of rock songs- Richard Cheese, The Mike Flowers Pops, Paul Anka. Now, with 'Sin-Atra', some well known rock stars get to turn the tables by performing metal versions of some of Sinatra's biggest hits.
Described as 'A new metal twist on the music of Frank Sinatra', this is more accurately a collection of jazz standards that have been performed by Sinatra and many others over the years. The album is comprised of twelve tracks, each one sung by a different guest vocalist performing alongside a band that includes Bob Kulick on guitar and Billy Sheehan on bass.
First to get a rock overhaul is 'New York, New York' sung by Devin Townsend. This is a seriously over the top, seriously deranged version of the classic song and is hugely entertaining.
Glenn Hughes screeches away like a chain-smoking, whiskey-soaked Mariah Carey on 'I've Got You Under My Skin', Queensryche's Geoff Tate fails to make 'Summer Wind' anything other than forgettable, while the Dee Snyder fronted 'It Was A Very Good Year', despite starting off with the riff from Zeppelin's Kashmir, is one of the few tracks on the album that actually works as anything other than a mere novelty.
The rest of the album is pretty unmemorable stuff on the whole, though penultimate track 'Love and Marriage' performed by Elias Soriano does stand only because it's particularly diabolical. Robin Zander's 'Fly Me To The Moon' is appalling as is Joey Belladonna's performance on 'Strangers In The Night', especially when it comes to his 'doo-be doo-be doo, do do do doo-bee' bit. The Eric Martin fronted 'The Lady Is A Tramp' is almost unrecognisable from the Sinatra version, forsaking the laid back swing for large dollops of cheese, whilst 'High Hopes' featuring Franky Perez is good fun as long as you don't take it seriously.
On the whole this is a throwaway album. Entertaining enough on first listen (unfortunately, for the wrong reasons in most cases), Sin-Atra is unlikely to warrant repeated listening. Will it appeal to die-hard Sinatra fans? Highly unlikely. And if you're not a Sinatra fan, then Sin-Atra is little more than a mildly entertaining album featuring well-known vocalists performing covers of songs that sounded better in their original form