Paradise Sins - Desires EP (2024) Hi-Res

British rock newbies Paradise Sins are seeking to make a name for themselves with the second of two EPs released this year. The first was ‘Untamed‘, released last Spring. With this new one, ‘Desires‘, the band are hoping to build momentum in an ever-expanding melodic rock landscape.

Opener and first single ‘Love Like Hell’ has a pop sensibility that matches something resembling early 90s Def Leppard, but minus the high-end production. The song could fit alongside the tracks found on ‘Adrenalize’. Real catchy stuff and a solid way to begin the EP.

Second single ‘Beautiful Disaster’ rocks things up a bit, with a melody and vocal approach from lead singer Luis Riley Morrison that is stylistically late 80s Alice Cooper, with semi-sinister lyrics to match. Once again, quite catchy and well executed.

It’s with Track 3 that the band begins to lose me a bit. The ballad ‘Slipping Away’ is a six-minute track that feels so much longer as it meanders and is slow to build. When the track eventually gets to its crescendo, it’s just a matter of instruments cranking up their volume and the lead singer reaching for a slightly higher octave. The passion seems missing in a song about the depths of despair.

‘Second Renaissance’ gets the album back on track, at least at first. Starting with a shorter slow build, it gets the blood pumping so that when the main melody line is reached, the listener is hooked. They take an interesting approach with the bridge, which is wordless but adds double bass building to the chorus. Unfortunately, the chorus is a bit lacking and the least interesting part of the song. It’s unusual as I know of a lot more songs that have mediocre verses and kick ass choruses, but this is the reverse. It’s still an effective track but would have been the best one on the EP had they spent a little more time improving the chorus.

Final track ‘Sacrifice’ once again has a very slow build. The track is over six minutes long, but nothing of interest happens until the 1:20 mark. It is just light guitar note picking. As with the ballad, the same issues persist. It’s a mid-tempo rocker that is not all that interesting until the final two minutes, where a wordless bridge picks up steam and the band throws down with a sped-up tempo. Unfortunately, the lead singer shows his limitations and is not able to hit the highs that the band and the song are demanding, diminishing the impact of the track.

The band shows promise, but they have some kinks that need to be worked out. They were wise to release the first two tracks as singles as those are the best the album has to offer. The other three tracks are not terrible but they each have individual flaws that stop them from being as solid as the singles. Lead singer Luis Riley Morrison performs well but his range is limited. They would be wise to construct the songs in a way that does not require him to reach for highs that he cannot achieve, so slow build songs that develop without his ability to deliver diminishes the effect the song was meant to have. ‘Beautiful Disaster’ should be a template going forward. Staying within song structures like this would achieve better results.