I Just Want To Talk About – Saints & Sinners – A Forgotten ’90s Gem
There are lots of bands that are really worth mentioning on websites like this from time to time. The only problem is that they might be inactive, disbanded, or short-lived. However, that does not diminish their significance in any way. Every band that made music and played shows deserves to be discussed. That’s why we are going to talk about Saints & Sinners.
No, I’m not referring to Whitesnake’s 1982 album. This was actually a Canadian hard rock/hair metal band that existed briefly at the beginning of the ’90s. More precisely, from 1990 until 1993. In this short period, they managed to release one album, also called ‘Saints & Sinners,’ which was produced by the famous Canadian musician and producer Aldo Nova.
And what an album it was! Despite being released at a time when grunge began to dominate the music world and the music industry seemed determined to erase everything that came before it, this is one exceptionally good album that every fan of this genre needs to give a spin. It’s safe to say that this was one of those early ’90s hair metal releases that should have been huge, in terms of the quality of music, of course.
I personally discovered this band just by surfing through Spotify’s related artists some years ago. Then again, Saints & Sinners was mentioned on the Hair Metal Guru YouTube channel, in the ‘The Curse of 1992’ episode to be precise. Check out the channel; it’s really interesting and worth watching. After hearing the host mention this album, I felt the need to listen to it again and to do a track-by-track review, with 1-0-0/5 rating system.
Another reason I’m doing this is because when I first listened to this release, I thought it was simply a perfect album. That was a few years ago, and at that time, I wasn’t doing any reviews of this type. After this current one, my thesis was confirmed. This isn’t just a good album; it’s incredibly good, and it’s simply tragic that it ended up in the dusty catacombs of hard rock music history. Bad timing, the industry’s decision to move on to something new, but also the band’s lack of perseverance (after all, they only existed for three years) led to this.
- Shake – 1
- Rip It Up – 1 H
- Walk That Walk – 1
- Takin’ My Chances – 1
- Kiss The Bastards 0/5
- Wheels Of Fire – 1
- Lesson Of Love – 1 H
- We Belong – 0/5
- Intro – 1
- Frankenstein – 1 E
- Slippin’ Into Darkness – 1
After thorough listening and evaluation, the album received an ultra-high rating of 10/11. Only two songs received a rating of 0/5, while all the others received a 1. Of course, this matter is debatable and subjective, but there aren’t many albums that can shine so brightly. Those two songs could easily have received the highest rating. Individually, I could highlight three songs that in a parallel world where the music industry didn’t destroy hair/glam metal but allowed it to develop normally, as it had started to do with almost all bands, would have been ultimate hits. Those are ‘Rip It Up’ and ‘Lesson Of Love’ as pure hard rock hits, while the penultimate song, ‘Frankenstein,’ is epic in every sense
In addition to those, I would also highlight the opening track “Shake,” as well as the ultra-fast “Wheels Of Fire,” and the masterfully closing track “Slippin Into Darkness.” Even the hard-ballad “Takin’ My Chances” isn’t that bad. Simply put, this is an album where there’s no need to skip any tracks. Each song is filled with all the best elements from the arsenal of hard rock bands of that era: catchy melodic choruses, killer solos, and crushing riffs. Perfect and flawless.
This album by Saints & Sinners could be described as the long-awaited second album of Skid Row, who decided not to veer towards “Slave To The Ground” in terms of music but to stick to the direction of their debut album. Or perhaps as a slightly heavier Bon Jovi/Def Leppard. Or simply as an album that distilled all the best elements of this genre into these 11 songs. In any case, if you’re a fan of this music, you definitely shouldn’t miss Saints And Sinners. Canadians actually had some really good bands from that period. They always manage to surprise. It’s a shame these guys didn’t stay on the scene longer.
Rare are the bands from that period who have only one album, yet it’s so perfect. What do you think?
Band Members:
Rick Hughes – vocals
Stephane Dufour – guitar
Martin Bolduc – bass
Jeff Salem – drums
Jesse Bradman – keyboards
