Continuing their run of re-releasing old material, these Swedish Hard Rockers spent several years knocking around the local music scene in their hometown of Linköping, going through several line-up changes and wildly disparate, inappropriate names such as PURPLE HAZE and GENOCIDE, before settling on MINDLESS SINNER and releasing their first full length "Turn on the Power" on 1986. A lack of interest from their record company put an end to this initial era of the band, but they quickly bounced back, and forged a deal with a local record company, in the process settling on the punchier but less fun MINDLESS in 1987. Several more years of touring, writing, and recording followed before their second full length "Missin Pieces" was released in 1989 and this is the release we are focussing on today. Unfortunately for the band this was not to herald a new era of global success and recognition for the band, who promptly retreated to the shadows for a few more years. As of 2015 they are reactivated, confusingly under their original name MINDLESS SINNER and continue to record new material to this day.

While their debut was a record heavily influenced by NWOBHM, this release takes a hard turn towards Melodic AOR, very much in the style of their compatriots EUROPE. This stylistic switch is immediately clear from the opening of "Heaven Will Know," which jangles into our headspace sounding a little like the intro to an 80s WHITESNAKE rocker. Christer G-son has an odd habit of occasionally speaking his lyrics as though he were narrating a perfume advert which is incredibly cheesy, and Dan Blade delivers a slightly clunky guitar solo which fails to amaze.

The bulk of the album is a similar story, occasionally more urgent such as "Rockin' in The Heat Of The Night," while the lyrics remain stubbornly cliché ridden. There are hints of their NWOBHM roots briefly resurfacing, such as in the short introduction to "Run Away," an interminable sickly ballad in "A Dream of a Dream," and a bit more US-style cheese in the STARSHIP-like "Stranger" but there's little in the way of mind-blowing guitar work or thoughtful lyricism to be found anywhere.

"Missin Pieces" failed to set the world alight the first-time round, and it is hard to see it doing so all these years later. The production is typical of the time, sparkly guitars, acoustics backing up a lot of the electrics, over-produced vocal harmonies. It is a competent slice of Euro Rock, the performances are decent enough, the writing is somewhat predictable and the lyrics occasionally banal. They have included five extra demo tracks so true hardcore fans can hear what the songs were like originally, before they made them listenable. It should pleasantly pass an hour for the most hardened acolytes of bands such as EUROPE and WARRANT, but most will probably want to give this one a miss.