Review by Vladimir on April 29, 2023.

Midnight evil! Blood runs red! Midnight evil! Hidden face of death! Man, I haven’t even started the interview and I am already expressing my feelings over the release which I’ll be covering in this review. The topic of discussion is the German heavy metal band Sintage from Leipzig, which recently released their debut full-length album Paralyzing Chains on April 21st via High Roller Records. Now let’s get into why I immediately fell in love with this album and why I can’t get the infamous opener track out of my head.

The opener track is 'Midnight Evil' which at the very beginning tells you exactly that this is a pure banger thanks to its melodic heavy metal guitar with rock and roll and galloping riffs thrown right in your face, along with fast drums and distorted high vocals. The real highlight of the song is the chorus which just crawls under your skin and you can’t get it out of your head because of its catchy and powerful energy. Classic 80’s catchy heavy metal riffing and mid-tempo drumming, both extremely hungry for rock and roll, come right at you with full-throttle on the tracks 'Spirit Of The Underground' and 'Wild Dogs'. Both songs carry such immense Judas Priest vibe to them, giving you an excessive need to drive your car at 80mph speed. Apparently, this package of pure rock and roll doesn’t stop delivering the goods as the fifth track 'Escape The Scythe' strikes to claim your soul like the reaper on his steed. The sixth track 'Rockin' Hard' for example goes full on biker heavy metal, which in both style and rhythm reminded me so much of Saxon’s 'Wheels Of Steel', especially because of its catchy riffing and mid-tempo drumming.

This album feels like a revival of oldschool 80’s heavy metal rather than just an attempted throwback, and I must say that the action was delivered so well that I couldn’t describe exactly whether I was overjoyed or stunned. Although the musical output is an obvious love letter to the legendary classics, what I think also deserves some form of appreciation is the cover art by Luisa Agudelo, which depicts a metalhead being choked with chains by a wicked cobra, while a broken Michael Schenker Gibson Flying V guitar is lying on the ground. I am not sure if the cobra on the cover art is also supposed to be some sort of band reference like the Flying V guitar, but I assumed that it probably had something to do with Omen and their beloved album "Warning Of Danger". Production-wise, theirs is nothing much to say other than it’s heavy and tight as you’d expect, not a big budget overproduced and sterile garbage.

I don’t think I should tell you anything else apart from “Stop whatever you’re doing, go and check out this album, thank me later”. If I could describe this album with just three words, I’d go with wild, heavy and catchy. It’s always refreshing to see new heavy metal bands come out with great releases and deliver exactly what you came for. Germany has been constantly delivering so many great heavy metal bands over the years, and Sintage deserve to claim their rightful place among others with pride and dignity.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10