As a listener of Metal music, I am always thirsty for new music and for new life to be breathed into the industry, and it is up-and-coming bands that make this happen. Germany's SECRETS OF SIN recently released their debut, "Future Memories" and are, quite frankly, something I have never heard before. For a symphonic metal band, this is true praise; I even hesitate to even try and classify this band, for there are too many things going on in their mixes for that to be possible.

The intro track "Deus Ex Machina" leads into "Utopia", effectively creating one song, and I am instantly interested by the obvious NIGHTWISH vibe present in this song; not just the chord progressions, but the interplay between vocalists Christina Groner and Robert Mansk. The former provides the quintessential, classically-trained feminine voice, and the latter adds a rough and raucous style of vocal, not so different to NIGHTWISH's Marco Hietala or LACUNA COIL's Andrea Ferro. These 'soft and hard' vocal exchanges are an ever present dynamic throughout this album. It is also already clear that the band's instrument slingers are adept at creating an epic sound scape. "Alive" is a lot more commercial-sounding, containing many Alternative Rock and Nu-Metal vibes; combined with Robert's strained, aching vocal performance, SECRETS OF SIN show that they are quite capable of pushing genre boundaries. "Once Upon A Time" is yet again a track in its own world; six and a half minutes long, and an acoustic-dominated track, solely with Groner's dulcet, jazzy tones overlaying it. I feel comfortable naming this song the most intrinsically beautiful on the album. "Inside" was chosen as the album's video single, and rightly so, with an extremely catchy vocal melody from both singers and some expertly crafted riff bashing. "Hope Dies Last" is somewhat of a return to the original vibe of the record, and the arrangement of the riffs instantly reminds me of ELVENKING, of which I am pleasantly surprised. "The Joker" begins with an utterly strange trumpet opening - of which I am unable to decipher purpose- but regardless leads into a catchy, yet heavy, groove-ridden track. Ultimately, this track (unexpectedly) turned into one of my favourite tracks on the record; not just because of the utterly metallic riff construction, but the sheer strangeness of it.

"Shadows" is a welcome return to a more serious note; a very slow and moving track that once again, features solely Groner on vocals, with deep and meaningful lyrics, something that I had a feeling that band was more and more capable of creating. I absolutely cannot fault it. "Civilisation" is by far the longest track on the album, at very nearly twelve minutes. It is not so much a song more than it is a musical story, containing multiple and complex parts that leave their own unique lyrical and musical trail. The sheer diversity in this song alone makes it easily the best track on the album, and show that this relatively new band is capable of excellent song writing. "Puppet Play" is one of the more slightly progressive tracks on the album, with much syncopated guitar and drum playing; lyrically speaking, it's true message requires a few full listens, and to me, appears almost melancholic in nature. The final track, "What I Am" is much more a traditional rock track in nature and features yet catchier chord progression, and my favourite vocal performances from Mansk on the album. He proves that his vocal abilities, while not having the range of some classic metal singers, are diverse nevertheless, alternating between straining and emotionally-packed cleans, thrash-like yells and powerful screams.

I feel that this release is a strong debut for the band, with no real 'weak' songs on the album, although there may be some room for their storytelling to develop; while not necessarily bad, a few lyrical passages came off as somewhat cliché. Having said that, "Civilisation" showed some potential for an excellent concept album in their future writings.

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