From Norway comes Griffin with their second full length album “The Sideshow”. According to the promo they make heavy 80s-style metal with a twist. Except that you have to listen very closely to find the twist. Frankly I don’t know what this twist should be. The album starts with a promising intro of guitar, bass and keyboard solos and raging drums sounding like Megadeth on the “Peace Sells...”, but in track 2 it falls back to standard 80s metal with no inspiration and terrible raw vocals sounding somewhat like the vocals from “The Gravedigger”. Standard guitar riffs, double bass drums and melody-lines fill every track; no catchy choruses that stick. Only track 5, which is a short instrumental acoustic guitar ballad, is something new and sounds fairly well.

They can play their instruments, but with this music vocals are important. It’s a pity that Griffin doesn’t have better vocals because they would get a better grade if they did. Sadly enough these songs are a dime a dozen and there are no songs that stick out. It all sounds very much the same and standard. Together with the bad vocal capabilities of Tommy Sebastian it’s not something most people would buy. Of course it sounds like they rock but in a fashion that has been done a thousand times before. Please make more tracks sounding like the opening number, because the rest is without inspiration.