PYN SIREN – Slave To Your Master

A “Pyn Siren” is defined as a device that often uses compressed air or steam to produce a loud, wailing sound to signal or communicate a warning. It’s kind of a cool and original name (if not appropriate) for a Hard Rock/Metal band, isn’t it? East Coast USA rockers Danny Mariano (vocals), Pete Ruello (bass guitar), Frank Calarco (drums) and Gary Valasco (guitars) due the term justice in their debut album entitled Slave To Your Master, a product of the Kivel Records label.

Essentially Pyn Siren has a sound and musical style nearly identical to Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind album. Mariano, especially, comes across with striking similarity to Sebastian Bach, and the in-your-face energy and enthusiasm of the band is evident from the opening “Cry Me A River” track. You don’t see this very often, but Ruello, the bass player, is credited with writing virtually all of the music for this album … Mariano and Calarco are credited with writing the lyrics. Slave To Your Master includes 9 tracks written by the band, with a “bonus track” called “Lil By Lil” written by guest guitarist/songwriter Chris Burguhere. These 10 songs comprise roughly 40 minutes.

WHAT’S GOOD

The musical style of Pyn Siren literally slaps you in the face from start to finish, and doesn’t let you up for air. The band plays with speed, purpose, and attitude, and although there are notable Skid Row tendencies in virtually every song, the album still feels fresh and original. Valasco, though credited with contributing nothing towards the writing process, is on top of his game and is largely responsible for the band’s sound success. Mariano delivers the lyrics admirably too. The lyrics are generally not polished, rather they are just laid out there to convey a point, bitch, or semi-crisis that the band evidently was itching to communicate. Mariano sells the delivery, though, and ties it all together within the structure of the music quite well … not an easy task, to say the least, because the music is sometimes played like a torpedo without fins – Mariano’s vocal style and performance, however, adds the necessary stability and direction.

“Dance For Your Lover” is the best song on the album. With one foot slightly in the Hair Metal door, Pyn Siren delivers a song (that if promoted properly) indeed has huge hit potential. Everything works in this song – good lyrics, good chorus, and a well-structured song design. Seven of the remaining tracks are also very solid songs … each of these 7 have similar design with respect to pace, drive, and meritorious performance.

WHAT’S LESS THAN GOOD

The production quality of Slave To Your Master, unfortunately is a bit disappointing. The guitar and vocals come through with stellar clarity, but Ruello’s bass is often completely hidden (surprising since he wrote all of the music), and Valasco’s drum sound often comes through hollow. A “fatter” drum sound would have made this album even more impressive. Two songs, “Die” and “H.L.J. (Hung Like Jesus)” fail to come through with the quality of the other 8. “Die” fails to thrive and stay with a direction, and “H.L.J. suffers from overuse of the “Hung Like Jesus” chorus.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall Skid Row fans should definitely check this band out … you won’t be disappointed. This is definitely the best album that Skid Row never made! The sometimes “iffy” production quality ends up being somewhat of a non-issue due to the solid song writing and Mariano’s vocal performance. In the end, 8 out of 10 solid tracks is a definite success in anyone’s book.