Vandenberg's 'Sin' - Album Review

Whilst he might not be a household name, the Dutch guitarist Adrian Vandenberg is rightly respected in the rock world. As a member of Whitesnake's most commercially successful period, Vandenberg toured the world and wrote two excellent studio albums with David Coverdale - with his tasteful blues playing on 1997's underrated Restless Heart perhaps showcasing him at his best. Whilst he will always be associated with Whitesnake's big hair period, those music videos from the 1987 album, and his guitar solo on the most famous version of Here I Go Again, Vandenberg has always been more than just another former Whitesnake guitarist. Vandenberg had to have been doing something right to catch Coverdale's eye, and that was leading his own self-titled band. Vandenberg, the band, burst onto the rock scene in 1981 - and released their self-titled debut album the following year. Two albums, 1983's Heading for a Storm and 1985's Alibi, followed, but big success eluded the band. They had some success in the Netherlands, and the single Burning Heart reached the Top 40 in the US, but the band never really broke through. Vandenberg clearly did enough to excite Coverdale, though, and Vandenberg's tenure in Whitesnake has meant that all of his other projects have received a decent amount of attention - particularly in more recent years. His short-lived band Manic Eden failed to catch on in the early 1990s, though, debuting between Whitesnake stints, and following Whitesnake coming to an end in 1997 Vandenberg essentially retired. He returned to active service in 2013, though, following a handful of guest appearances with Whitesnake, and formed the band Vandenberg's Moonkings - a bluesy band who released two albums in 2014 and 2017. The two Moonkings albums certainly felt more organic and Led Zeppelin-esque than anything Vandenberg had done previously. Moonkings were a fun band, but I think that they were essentially Vandenberg testing the waters for a bigger return - which happened in 2020 with the formation of a new line-up of the Vandenberg band and the release of 2020 (which I reviewed here). 2020 felt more like it. It rocked harder than either of the Moonkings albums, and returned to the hard-hitting sound which characterised the earlier Vandenberg releases - albeit with a tougher, more modern production and influence taken from his time with Whitesnake. I had hoped that the album would not be a one-off, and thankfully three years on the band are back with their fifth album Sin - which was released last month. Vandenberg, bassist Randy van der Elsen, and drummer Koen Herfst all return here - but Sin marks the debut of current vocalist Mats Levén (Treat; Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force; Krux; Therion; At Vance; Candlemass), who replaced Ronnie Romero in 2021. I think that Romero did a good job on 2020, but I can understand why Vandenberg moved on with Levén instead. I think I remember an interview where Vandenberg said that Romero was essentially singing for everyone - and he wanted to have a more distinctive frontman going forward. Romero is certainly an in-demand singer, and is a bit of a journeyman, so I can understand why Vandenberg chose to move on with him - but I do wonder why Vandenberg chose him in the first place if that was a concern. Levén's gravelly voice is perfectly suited for the songs throughout Sin, though - and he has a hand in the album's creation, too, co-writing all but one of the songs here. Generally Vandenberg writes the songs himself, so it is interesting to see that the pair have struck up a strong partnership already.

Everything here is pretty hard rocking, and producer Bob Marlette's production has something of a raw edge. This album is not as organic as the Moonkings releases, but there is still a rough and ready sound which suits Vandenberg's heaviness. Opener Thunder and Lightning is a good example of this, with its staccato opening drum barrage soon giving way to a muscular bluesy riff which has a strong Whitesnake vibe. Whilst he played the part during the 1980s, Vandenberg himself was never a high-octane shredder, and the muscular riffing here is a great representation of his style. Subtle, organic keyboards underpin everything - but the guitar is always the centre of attention, with Levén the perfect foil for the riffing approach taken. The song's verses are punchy, with great hooks from Levén, but the chorus is not as strong as it could be in my opinion - and as such the song fails to reach the heights of some of the others here. There is a lot to like, though, with the pacy verses bringing the best out of Levén - whilst the riffing elsewhere and Vandenberg's bluesy, yet fast-paced, solo are a great showcase for the man himself. There is better to come, but Thunder and Lightning does a good job at establishing the album's core sound - with the tight rhythm section adding plenty of punch throughout. House on Fire opens in a somewhat slower manner, and the song feels a bit more moody and expansive overall. There is still plenty of punch here, but the song feels more creeping and groove-based - with a few Eastern-tinged melodies in some of the guitar leads. There is more space in the mix here, with the rhythm section not feeling as frantic, whilst Levén showcases a bit of a different side to his voice here. He generally does his best to channel a Coverdale-esque approach throughout, albeit with a bit more of a metallic grit, but there are moments here which showcase a deeper delivery - and it is clear why he has history in the doom genre with Krux and Candlemass. These moments only surface occasionally, but they add some depth to the song - and the chorus feels bigger when he lets rip as a result of the murk elsewhere. Vandenberg's solo is not as frantic, either, and the snaking melodies fit in nicely around the grooves found elsewhere - creating a song which feels sparser and more organic than some of the harder-hitting pieces here. The album's title track follows, and it feels a lot more expansive than what has come before - with hints of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir, Whitesnake's Judgement Day, and Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers all meshing together to create an atmospheric, majestic, yet hard rocking track. Vandenberg's riffing is slow-burning here, with the rhythm section adding some crunch below the slower chugs - whilst keyboards add neo-classical accents in a manner similar to those referenced songs. There are moments which really recall Judgement Day heavily, with Levén singing in a bit of a call-and-response manner against the rest of the band - whilst the chorus looms into view with more expansive vocals and sultry bluesy tones as it closes out. Unsurprisingly, too, Vandenberg's central guitar solo is a lengthy one. It opens achingly, with some excellent bluesy leads, but it slowly speeds up as it moves along - climaxing with some shredded phrases, which help to tie the wider song together nicely before a final reprise of the lumbering chorus.

Light It Up ups the pace again, and returns to something more throaty in the manner of the album's opening song. After two more mid-paced tracks, the pacy song is welcome - and the presence of plenty of organ throughout firmly roots the track in that updated 1970s hard rock sound which much of the album revels in. Despite the stronger keyboard presence, riffing throughout from Vandenberg is still busy. The opening salvo is catchy, really drawing the listener in, whilst the core hook mixes a couple of weighty power chords alongside a little descending melody which easily sticks in the brain. This mix of big chords and melodies gives the guitar playing plenty of edge throughout - whilst Herfst's shuffling drum groove further accents the track's 1970s aspirations. Levén sticks firmly to his Coverdale impression here, but works perfectly - although his history in metal gives his voice more of an 'attack' overall, and the piece is certainly all the more powerful thanks to his vocal approach. Walking on Water takes a more dynamic approach, and the piece opens slowly before later exploding. Vandenberg's clean guitar melodies form a bed for Levén's vocals early on, and this more atmospheric opening sets the tone thanks to a simple keyboard backing and Levén's deeper vocal delivery. The song soon starts to rock harder, but the piece generally shifts back and forth between riffier sections and moments which feel like amped-up versions of the intro - with a punchy rhythm section backing. The verses feature chiming clean guitar melodies (with later iterations seeing this melody morphing into more of a riff to good effect), whilst the chorus builds on a powerful riff from earlier in the song - and sees Levén really going for it vocally, pushing out big vocal hooks which add up to being one of the strongest choruses on the album overall. The song is one of the overall highlights in my opinion thanks to this hooky chorus and the song's overall approach - and it really showcases what this Levén/Vandenberg collaboration can produce. Burning Skies feels a bit heavier overall, but the song is not significantly different from the previous track. It is another song with a strong chorus, which is up there in quality with that of the previous song, but the overall arrangement is less dynamic - instead focusing more on bigger riffing. The rhythm section seem to be featured a bit more here, too, with van der Elsen's bass really propelling the verses in a manner which they have not really done in such a prominent way on the album up to this point - whilst Herfst's drumming is pushed into the spotlight occasionally thanks to some more percussive playing during sections which break up the main grooves. The song feels somewhat dynamic, then, but overall the track is heavier - with more of an urgency during the snappy chorus, which again features some excellent vocals from Levén.

Hit the Ground Running ups the pace quite considerably, and it is one of the fastest tracks here. The song feels a bit like a hark back to Vandenberg's songwriting style around the time of Whitesnake's 1989 release Slip of the Tongue. Vandenberg never got to record the songs he wrote for the album due to injury, but the riffing style here is very much of that time. Steve Vai famously recorded all of the guitar parts on the album, and Vandenberg has since lamented this - as he felt that Vai's flashy style perhaps did not suit all of the songs he had written. Perhaps the Slip of the Tongue album would have sounded more like Hit the Ground Running tone-wise had Vandenberg not suffered the injury - as the riffing is very much high-octane in that manner, and Herfst seems to be channelling his inner Tommy Aldridge with a hard-hitting drumming performance that would have also felt at home on the 1989 Whitesnake album. The chorus is another strong moment, too, with Levén letting rip a bit more and going for a few high-pitched notes which suit the 1980s overtones of the piece. Moving on to something more emotional overall, the ballad Baby You've Changed is the only genuinely slower track here. It is the only song here which Levén did not co-write, but the singer gives it his all here - turning in a sultry performance which perfectly suits the mournful guitar melodies and shimmering keyboard backing. There is a strong rhythm and groove throughout, though. The rhythm section are very present throughout the song, so the ballad still feels pretty hard hitting. This is no acoustic number, and the punch of the drums is very metronomic - despite the depth added by the keyboards and the emotional tug of Levén's excellent vocal delivery. Vandenberg's solo is unsurprisingly quite a slow-burner, too, but there is still a lot of muscle in the phrases chosen - and the ballad hits the mark as a result by not feeling too wimpy and keeping in tone with the rest of the album. The album then comes to a close with the meaty Out of the Shadows, another more expansive piece akin to the album's title track - but this is less majestic overall, with more of a strident blues rock approach taken instead. The song opens slowly, with distant vocals against an atmospheric backing, but the track on the whole is a strong, mid-paced number built around a snaking, hooky riff which is utilised relentlessly throughout. There are harks back to Judgement Day again during a pre-chorus which feels more call-and-response - and the pre-chorus also feels bigger thanks to the use of keyboards, which also pad out the chorus somewhat despite the bigger overall sound. Big note bends and tortured phrases make up Vandenberg's bluesy guitar solo, and the track seems to essentially be one big showcase for him. Levén is great is always, but the vocals here are not as big as they are for some of the other songs - with the riffing and extended solo being the main event. There is plenty of soloing during the final chorus, too, adding a high-octane finish to an album which has generally remained consistently hard rocking throughout its 40 minute or so runtime. This consistent sound and heavy blues approach certainly makes Sin a strong release, and the combination of Levén and Vandenberg appears to be a winning one. The songwriting here is solid throughout, with a handful of the songs really standing out. It is always great to hear Vandenberg play the guitar, too, and I hope that there is more from this line-up to come in the future.

The album was released on 25th August 2023 via Music Theories Recordings. Below is the band's promotional lyric video for House on Fire.