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Wishing Well blew me away with their previous album, so I was eagerly awaiting this one for a while. Things got rough in their camp due to Covid and vocalist Rafael Castillo leaving, but Sin and Shame shows them sticking to their guns almost like nothing happened. This is still a band that’s obsessed with bands that helped craft the metal genre before it had a name like Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep, which is easily seen with their songwriting sensibilities and the integral incorporation of organic and sometimes innovative Hammond style synthesizer playing. This leads to a varied sound that ranges from the direct singalong opener "In the Line of Fire" to the melancholic "Soulrider," though many songs are closer to the former style like the catchy, Moog-synthesizer infected "Space Invaders," "Mistress of the Night," and the closing instrumental "Flying Finn" (the title suggests it’s a tribute to a generation of long distance runners from Finland starting with Hannes Kolehmainen—R.I.P.), but it’s not like I have lyrics to confirm that’s the intent).

The only real difference here is new singer Pepe Tamminen. He sounds nothing like Rafael, and I would be lying if I didn’t miss his excellent vocals, but Pepe does admirably with a very old-school delivery that fits the band like a cozy leather glove, and only adds to the band’s dedication to sounding as old school as possible, a dedication that has not waned in quality despite a few setbacks over the years. A welcome return.