Label : Metal Heaven
Review by Tony Cannella
Germany’s Poison Sun is a hard charging, heavy rock band. To put it simply, you don’t hear too many female fronted metal bands like this these days. Poison Sun is fronted by Martina Frank in collaboration with her husband, Accept guitarist and metal veteran Herman Frank. The band is completed by a very formidable rhythm section in Stefan Hammer on bass and Florian Schönweitz on drums. Their debut album, “Virtual Sin” features 10-songs and 43-minutes worth of riff-heavy, blues based hard rock and metal. Vocalist Martina Frank has got a different style than many of her contemporaries. She employs more of a bluesy, Sass Jordan/Janis Joplin-ish style and she packs plenty of power in that voice. The gritty “Voodoo” sets things in motion and right away Martina’s vocals are an attention grabber. A great riff and a catchy sing-along type of chorus drives this opening number. The blazing opening riff introduces the next song “Red Necks” and Martina’s vocals soar throughout the 4-minutes. The next track “Hitman” has an Accept vibe to it, thanks in part to the Udo style background vocals on the chorus. This is one of the more aggressive tracks and a favorite as well. Other highlights: “Rider in the Storm”, “Killer” (featuring just a monstrous riff) and “Phobia” (another song that conjures up visions of the great Accept). Poison Sun includes one cover song on “Virtual Sin” and it came as a huge surprise, it is a version of The Pointer Sisters classic “I’m So Excited”. Of course this is a more rocked-up version of the song, but it is a fun song as well and it really stands out. Poison Sun offers a listener a bit of a departure from the normal operatic female fronted metal fare. This is a band that gets back to basics and on “Virtual Sin”; Poison Sun has created a solid, rocking debut.
Rating – 80/100
Tracklist
- Voodoo
- Red Necks
- Hitman
- Rider in the Storm
- Killer
- Virtual Sin
- Princess
- Phobia
- Excited
- Forever
Line Up
- Martina Frank – Vocals
- Herman Frank – Guitar
- Stefan Hammer – Bass
- Florian Schönweitz – Drums
Links