Despite the spikey logo and equally spikey stage attire and even hailing from Scandinavia Sister are not black metal but a Swedish glam punk band much like the similarly monikered and fellow Swedes Sister Sin. Originally formed in 2006 Disguised Vultures is actually only their second album to date having spent most of their time touring (Fun Fact: they were signed to Metal Blade Records by Alan Averill of Primordial fame).
So what should you expect from this band…. A dash of gravelled goth vocals (a la Wednesday 13), a dollop of punk rock enthusiasm, a heap of ridiculously infections anthems and truck full of rock ‘n’ roll RIFFS!
It opens in a rather strange fashion mind as ‘My Enemy’ kicks off with ten seconds of the chorus before abruptly stopping to start the actual intro proper and then carrying on where it left off? Something of a curveball but it’s straight up rock 'n' roll after that.
The first single released (they still exist!) and second track ‘Sick’ is one of the undoubted highlights carrying though a bouncing groove and a huge infectious chorus, we even get acoustic interludes into the big guitar solo.
‘Disguised Vultures’ is pretty much the same (in a good way) with some more nifty RIFF grinding work and when you think they’ve settled into a groove we have the barrelling punk rock of ‘Arise’ to keep us on our toes (and dancing feet) complete with gang chant choruses.
‘We Salute ‘Em’ and ‘Slay Yourself’ keep up the good times but we hit a stumbling block in the god awful ballad ‘Naked’ – it just doesn’t work as admittedly the lyrics in general aren’t the selling point and that vocal style isn’t suited to a ballad.
Happily that’s the only attempt at one and ‘DMN’ kicks straight back into rock 'n' roll (The closest they get at outright sounding like Wednesday 13) as does ‘(Stop The) Revolution’ with its full on punk rock gang chants (The bass sound is especially great here).
After starting with a curveball it seems fitting we end with one as finale ‘Please Kill Me’ turns into an upbeat party folk tune (Rather at odds with the chorus refrain).
So….uncomplicated blistering fun for all you air guitarists out there! (Grabs tennis racket).
