We Salute 'Em
Described as sleazy glam punk rock yet possessing a logo and some cover art that could easily tell a very different tale, it's immediately apparent that Swedish bunch Sister are going to be far and away from run-of-the-mill.
With the band's second outing on Metal Blade Records comes an unrelenting, scuzzy rock'n'roll intensity to the songs and to the delivery of those songs that is reminiscent of fellow Scandinavians Kvelertak; frontman Jamie doing his bit to bolster the comparison with his reckless screaming and shouting. Throw in a healthy dose of Backyard Babies and WASP and Sister's sound will begin to take shape in your head, but the edginess that the band have conjured up on their newest full-length has to be heard for the hooks to really dig themselves in. Opener My Enemy and first single Sick are immediately raucous and hugely fun sleazy glam punk anthems, whilst the title track turns out to be a showcase for the band's more mature side; the tempo slows slightly and the rambunctious sleaze makes way for a more straight-up hard rock approach that, if anything, is where Sister really start to shine. They focus on the riffs at all the right times, and the album is all the more impressive for it.
Naked is an altogether different beast; a hulking ballad of the macabre that brings to mind Alice Cooper's freak-show heavy metal in all its extravagant glory. Not a band to loiter too long in first gear, DMN is another statement of intent as it launches into a full-on Turbonegro-style rebellion anthem. Closer Please Kill Me begins acoustically and remains that way for all of ten seconds, before morphing into a final good-time pub rock'n'roll number that sees the band remaining on form throughout the course of the entire forty minutes.
By the end of the album, that kicked-in-the-teeth sensation feels like an absolute joy and reliving the experience is the only sensible option. Disguised Vultures is a constant barrage of distinctly Scandinavian riffs and unruly sleaze rock attitude, plunging head-first into multiple genres and coming out with a sound that is certain to turn many heads given half a chance. Not perfect by any means but a stronger effort overall than 2011's debut Hated, the songs sound slicker and the band sound more confident in their boisterous delivery. Thankfully, Sister come brandishing far more than cutesy zombie dolls and by-the-book bubblegum sleaze rock (as many before them seem to have done), and their rise within the rock and metal world will surely continue into 2014.