Following 2001's ambitious epic Nostradamus, which featured a cast of singers ranging from Sass Jordan and Alannah Myles to Jorn Lande (Masterplan, Millenium) and Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Bulgarian composer/multi-instrumentalist Nikolo Kotzev opted not to bite off more than he can chew with the fourth Brazen Abbot album. Guilty As Sin boasts both Lande and Turner — plus Goran Edman (Talisman, Kharma, Yngwie Malmsteen) — but it's a comparatively simple album with 12 melodic hard-rock tracks that boast classic-rock, symphonic-rock and progressive-metal overtones.
The three singers' voices sound similar within the framework of these songs, although it is Lande's blistering performance that sets "Eyes On the Horizon" apart from the pack and recalls Masterplan. Elsewhere, Edman injects a sense of pomp and circumstance into "Fool's Confession." Only Turner seems to be coasting, as his vocals have historically varied little from track to track and album to album. Musically, Kotzev is backed by three other players who give the album a tight focus.
Guilty As Sin isn't essential, but it's one of the more accessible, classic-grooved discs to come out of Europe in recent months. If you want to dig deeper into Kotzev's well, look for SPV's reissuing of Brazen Abbot's first three albums — Live and Learn (1995), Eye of the Storm (1996) and Bad Religion (1997) — later in 2003.
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