South Of Salem
The Sinner Takes It All – Self Released
We all remember those days when heavy music was a much simpler affair don’t we? Genres could be counted on one hand and everyone pretty much liked a bit of everything. Then it all got complicated. South Of Salem have taken the very best bits from then and upgraded to a kind of hard rock v2.0. You get the big hooks, solid vocals and easy to listen to arrangements. But what this five piece from Bournemouth have also done is dispense with the overblown and overlong guitar solos and posturing. The result is an album that sounds like it’s from a band that belongs on the biggest of stages. It’s a record that will appeal to a wide range of listeners, it screams at you to just unite and enjoy. It’s surprising to find out that this is a debut LP, it really is that good. The Sinner Takes It All rocks, and that’s all it needs to do.
Review by Gary Trueman