Fatal Sin

Florida’s Fatal Sin hardly has a place in our shiny metal realm, having released a sole two-song demo right when the bar stools were being put up at the last call of the ‘80s, but aren’t these the ones you kinda (or should) go out of your way to hear? I mean, what if lurking behind the cornily-drawn Xeroxed j-card is some epic soundtrack to Jesus’ eighth coming or something? The moron in you says, ‘well then they would’ve been signed’. Smack that side of you, please. For me.

Well, low and behold Fatal Sin isn’t the purveyor of some hidden apocalypse, but the foursome does serve up something slightly beyond yer basic shot n’ beer. While I wouldn’t say “Fatal Sin” and “Intense Distress” are big Metallica fans, and while they don’t sound like those guys to any great example, they do openly wear the band’s affinity for metal’s softer surfaces that slid down the bar to us with Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All, but it’s not really that big of a deal. Both tracks open under the spell of semi-somber electric acoustics with vocals either whispered or narrated over top. Beyond that, during more structured areas we have some animated, post-Bonded by Blood Exodus thrash throwing frosted mugs from behind the bar, then in spots where they pour it on, we hear rage that’s as wrathful and aggressive as it is tousled and loose without spiraling into the ravine of uselessness. Segways, breaks, and turns in tempo make sense, are usually mocked up well, and ultimately connect the sleight of hand progressivism that isn’t as obvious as in the softer patches, being something you just have to notice as this thing spins a few times.

Vocalist Adam Riewold is all over the map, shearing most normalcies from his voice usually with a scratchily-fuming higher tenor when he’s not growling the edge of a verse. Of course, he decimates every vocal terrain in-between.

Some versions of this tape apparently come with a third song, “Episode”, which I’ve never heard. Anyone have it? I’ll buy ya a drink. (Ed. - Never mind, found it on the '92 Unsigned III: Killing Time compilation from Stryder Records...pretty wicked progressive stuff here).