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Rise Of The Alchemist

    
       
       
       
     
             
Saints 'N' Sinners are a melodic metal band from Turkey founded by guitarist Deniz Tuncer in 2002, releasing their self titled debut album in 2013. The bands sophomore album 'Rise Of The Alchemist' was released in 2022...    
             
...and is an incredible one hour in length! Ten songs of heavy yet highly melodic metal awaits anyone who dares to play 'Rise Of The Alchemist' - and I dare ya! For 'Rise Of The Alchemist' is pure and unabashed heavy come power metal, with each and every song an infectious romp of aural delight. The album opens in truly epic fashion, with a tense crescendo building intro to 'As Above So Below', which at the one minute and thirty second mark breaks out into a punchy mid tempo mid paced melodic thunderstorm! The oomph and bombast behind the albums opening salvo is immense - Saints 'N' Sinners setting their stall out early. And what's in their stall? Heavy fucking metal that's what! To say 'As Above So Below' is a head turner, would be a little bit of an understatement - and as regular readers know, I don't do understatements! I just tell it as I feel it - and I feel fucking good after that opening song. Perhaps it's a sign of things to come... And it sure as hell is, for the melodic metal continues with added weight, courtesy of 'Sign Of Things To Come'. With its upturn in pace, power and pomp, 'Sign Of Things To Come' begins to warm up the neck muscles, moving heads back and forth at a fairly vigorous speed.    
             
What an incredible double to begin with! And whoa - heaviness comes crashing down like a huge wrecking ball in full swing! The punch and crunch of 'Sacred Ground' is phenomenal, knocking everything for six - and that includes anyone who wasn't prepared for the ferocious swing of pounding heavy metal. And after just three songs in, Saints 'N' Sinners have delivered three slightly differing styles of metal, all wrapped up in a melodious intent higher than the Metropol Istanbul Tower in err, Istanbul. Oh man, this albums just getting better and better - with 'Saviour Of The Damned' exploding into life and roaring on with a savage bite not heard before. The electrifying pace is incredible, with the head bang ability off the scale, yet the melodic input across the chorus break is fantastic. 'Saviour Of The Damned' is gonna have the mosh pits in an absolute frenzy, the pace and power viciously banging the heads of everyone! Jeez, what an album so far.    
             
And with a much more mellow opening than anything heard so far, 'Dreamer' seems to be heading down a side road into ballad country. But 'Dreamer' is just too bombastic to be classed as a power ballad, it's more like an anthemic hymn-like swagger of mid paced foot stomping. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes in length, 'Death Comes In Winter' has an intro that feels like an old cinematic horror movie, proceeding to explode into life for a short thrashy passage, and then adopting the melodic swagger of earlier. With pace and tempo changes aplenty, 'Death Comes In Winter' is an engrossing epic of sizeable proportions. It's a brilliant piece of cinematic entertainment. And so is 'Queen Of The Nile' - taking majestic metal to another level. The atmosphere is stunning, the punchy nature harder than anything heard so far, and the sing a long chant style chorus is just sublime - a crowd participation moment for sure! That's if Saints 'N' Sinners perform it live, fingers crossed they do.    
             
And talking of performing live - the band are on the bill along with Powerwolf and Whitesnake, as support for the mighty Kiss on their 2022 farewell tour date in Romania during June. And to be honest, methinks they could well outperform the headliners! And here's a little bit of trivia for you as well - one of the greatest heavy metal bands to ever grace the world stage, released a self titled debut album, with a self titled song as the last track, and a mascot adorning the cover! And while Saints 'N' Sinners have done this, I was actually referring to the great British institution that is Iron Maiden. But if history is gonna repeat itself, then Saints 'N' Sinners are on the right track to become one of metals greatest bands...    
             
...and I for one am right behind them. Especially with cracking songs like 'Ivory Tower' - the sound of traditional heavy metal booming from the speakers. The classic "foot on the monitor" feel more evident now than anywhere else on 'Rise Of The Alchemist'. What an absolute belter! And now for the albums centrepiece, an incredible twelve minutes of atmosphere, story telling, pace, tempo, and mood changes - the title song 'Rise Of The Alchemist' is simply superb. I really wanna tell ya everything about the song, but I also want you to hear it and be just as astounded as I was. So I'm going to break my writing style and tell you nothing - 'Rise Of The Alchemist' is a song you're just gonna have to discover by yourself. But one thing I will say, you won't be disappointed. So we've arrived at the albums final song 'Catch 22' - and another absolute belter of a tune! The most melodic of all songs on offer, 'Catch 22' is also the most catchy and sing a long-able. Saints 'N' Sinner's sophomore album has been a tremendous listen, and will surely remain on the play lists of metal heads all over world. And I also reckon the band are in strong contention for Album Of The Year too.    
             
Overall, a superb one hour of infectious heavy metal, full of energy, oomph, pace and power.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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