Bitches Sin's sophomore album, 1986's Invaders, arrived some four years after their highly anticipated but wildly inconsistent debut, Predator; an LP that had been so rudely panned by disappointed critics that few of the group's original fans remained to support them in this unlikely and largely unexpected attempt at a career rebirth. Not helping matters was the drastic musician overhaul that took place during the intervening years, leaving Bitches Sin virtually unrecognizable to those fans, aside from the ever-present (and oftentimes dubiously motivated) guitar-playing Toomey brothers. Nevertheless, new singer Frank Quegan was at least as competent as his terminated predecessors; the rhythm section of bassist Mike Frazier and drummer Mark Biddiscombe did what rhythm sections should (hold down the backbeat and stay out of the way); and Invaders was in many ways a better, more consistent collection of songs all around -- even though it lacked Predator's New Wave of British Heavy Metal relevance. Hardly a huge stylistic departure for the group, anyway, the album's overall aesthetic was still focused on melodically infused heavy metal, devoid of more recent thrash, black, and glam metal characteristics. One highlight, "No More Chances," had already been previewed three years earlier on an EP of the same name, and along with the band's energetic eponymous tune (revived from their first 1980 demo) and the slow-marching "Ice Angels" (featured on both releases!), it retained some of that raw, N.W.O.B.H.M. spirit and simplicity, all of six, seven years after the fact. But then, so did some of the more recent compositions like inexorable opener "Ain't Life a Bitch," the record's raucous title track, and the somewhat patchy apocalyptic closer "Dawn of Destruction" (yet another stutter-paced number, "Heavy Life," may or may not have been another rehashed 1980 demo). And amongst the more surprising bits: "Out of Mind" opened some interesting new doors with its heavy funk guitars, and "Round-A-Bout" took some questionable yet nonetheless engaging chances with progressive rock devices; but, "Day In, Day Out," on the other hand, was a typically lame attempt at a commercially palatable ballad (complete with backing synthesizers) that simply begged for a bigger recording budget to be properly pulled off (calling Mutt Lange!). Needless to say, this was not within Bitches Sin's recording budget, and since neither was a record label, the group would soon break up, returning only decades later to try and take advantage of the rising N.W.O.B.H.M. nostalgia.
© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo