Born in 2011, Italian SLEAZER saw some lineup changes during the years, with their first demo published with a three guitars formation, before setting up and publishing their first LP in the first months of 2017. Back to a two guitars setup, SLEAZER start their "Fall into Disgrace" with a misleading retro wave intro ('A Falling Overture'), made up by 80's synths, which makes "Heroes of Disgrace" totally unexpected; this second track soon sets the game rules for this LP: a powerful and shattering assault starts off this average tune, with interesting melody, sound and guitar elements, while Vecchiotti's vocals, clearly influenced by Dickinson's footprint, don't sound either much original nor catchy.

On the same wavelength, "Straight On Your Way" offers a fine Striker-ish melodic metal, once again with a remarkable performance by guitar couple Artibani - Cattalani, with still few hints from vocals. "Legion Of The Damned", with its melodic and chorus refrain, has its roots in the first Blind Guardian records and the like (probably "Majesty" has popped out in your mind) but Vecchiotti is no Hansi Kursch or Kai Hansen and his voice is quite a limit in this song, which shows, on the other hand, very good guitar duo solos. In the central section we finally can hear some creativity both on the guitars and the voice, at last full cruising with the rest of the band in the next two tracks: "Faded Dream" slows down into a semi ballad, with an 80's sound to it, characterized by prime guitar melodies tuned with the vocals in a catchy refrain. "King Of Nothing" lives on hard rock - heavy mix, made of vigorous A-level sudden guitar spurts. Following "Sabbath Lord" slows things down a bit, led by a gloomy bass line, but in the end it's not enough catchy and the refrain is not working so well. "Sleazer", "Fall Again" and "Deserter" close the album with average, not too original arrangements, both in the rhythm and melody.

Technically SLEAZER master their gear, especially the guitar couple, who leave the listener with the most remarkable moments in this release. What is lacking right now is a general originality in the arrangements and the song layouts: this may work with old school nostalgics but, given the good production and their tech mastery, this might be a waste. SLEAZER surely have potential (this is their first record, after all) but should put more effort in giving their sound originality and more unity in how the tracks relate one another: at times, during my listening, I had the impression each track was a try in a different style, as they were trying to find their real path and this is absolutely legit, but the risk is to shatter the whole LP. On the vocal side, although Vecchiotti's voice is not yet mature, work to be done is again more on finding a unique style, which could put some space between him and his role models and give him a form of his own.