SINSID'S crusade to bring some of the value of old school heavy metal back into the mainstream have returned with their third full-length "In Victory" released late in May of 2022. Vocalist Terje Sinigh Sidhu initially pursued a career in pro wrestling in San Bernardino, even becoming the NWF champion in 2002. He would soon decide focus on his family, choosing to wrestle only sporadically until leaving for good in 2012. Sidhu briefly joined ZENO MORF as lead vocalist in 2005, released an album with them in mid-2008 but ultimately left the band in 2009. He would soon form SINSID in 2012 originally as a cover band. They eventually evolved into writing original music in early 2015 and would release their debut in 2018 titled "Mission from Hell" amid the turmoil of numerous lineup changes. They released their follow-up "Enter the Gates" in 2020 with the same lineup as their debut and seemed to be fairly stable.

Their new album "In Victory" now released, it seems a stable lineup would prove only partially true. Drummer Robin Wick was having personal issues that were making it difficult for him to pursue music and has now been replaced with Trygve A. Tvedt, joining the band in 2021. With that lineup change, it has seemed to kick the work of the group up a notch. With their previous album, I was quite harsh on the songwriting but it seems new blood has invigorated SINSID to create some of the best, inspired and most powerful work to date. There is clearly a bigger focus on the double bass work and it has given the album much more energy and motion. The album was once again, a response to the grounding of many musical artists due to the worldwide pandemic and a means to be creative after several shows were cancelled. They were left without a way to really promote their work and, as Sidhu put it, "Let's go for album number three" was decided.

I had my issues with SINSID's 2020 effort and many of the similar issues are present in "In Victory". While the production is greatly improved - I can finally make out what the drummer is doing, possibly at newcomer Tvedt's insistence - Sidhu still insists on this yell/growl singing that seems like he is always straining his voice with everything he says. While "Metalheads" is meant to act as a rallying cry and anthem for the metal community, Sidhu screams "Metalheads" with such conviction as to be taken so seriously but the delivery is so comical and stilted, I couldn't help but laugh at the track while the riffs are recycled and predictable. It also has cowbell in it for some reason. Ironically, the track I enjoyed the most this time around was the title track "In Victory" in that it seemed to switch stylistically from thrash to groove metal in its 5 minute plus runtime and have an interesting, insane throwback of a guitar solo that seems right out of 80s production and yet it fits so well. The album is filled with interesting contradictions like that and while it is a step up from their predecessor, they still don't seem to possess the kind of originality that would propel them into the mainstream.