Million Dollar Reload – A Sinner’s Saint (2012)

Northern Ireland’s Million Dollar Reload aren’t here to mess around. They have a direction for their rock, hard and fast, and the knobs on their amps go to eleven every night. If Marshall endorses them, they should be prepared to send M$R more than a few replacements. Get out of the way because these Irishman are kicking ass and taking names (and probably downing their share of Bushmills along the way). Here’s their second album, A Sinner’s Saint.

I want to say that, at times, M$R reminds me of AC/DC, but that’s too much of an oversimplification. They can, perhaps on Bullets in the Sky, but they’re not a clone. Then I want to put them into the category of Eighties American sleaze, but this band is way heavier and wouldn’t be found dead in spandex. Note the t-shirts, denim, and low-rider sneakers.

Essentially, they’re hard rock, but heavier, like metal. They’ve got the groove, the licks, and the catchy melodies to really rock. They just do it with strength and speed of runaway freight train. The aforementioned Bullets in the Sky, the improbable I Am the Rapture, Fight the System, and It Ain’t Over are blistering examples of heavy hitting rockers. But then there’s Broken, the only slow song here, and, perhaps, the finest example of a heavy rock ballad in some time. Actually, it’s the best song here.

On the downside, because M$R is quite heavy, the music is quite thick. This density has the effect making the songs sound similar, when, for the most part, they’re not. The line up of songs from Wicked through Pretty People bears this out as intensity seems to trump individuality. Regardless, A Sinner’s Saint is still a huge slab of ass-kicking, and entertaining, melodic heavy rock. Recommended.

1. Fight The System
02. Bullets In The Sky
03. Blow Me Away
04. Can’t Tie Me Down
05. Broken
06. I Am The Rapture
07. Wicked
08. Smoke N Mirrors
09. Headrush
10. Pretty People
11. It Ain’t Over
12. Protest (Bonus Track)

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