SINNER
Biography and full discography of SINNER, with a page for every album, on METAL BOOST.
Biography
SINNER
Biography
At a glance
| Formed | 1982 according to the band's own account and its label; other sources date it to 1980 |
|---|---|
| Origin | Stuttgart, Germany |
| Genre | Heavy Metal / Hard Rock |
| Current line-up | Mat Sinner (bass, vocals); Alex Scholpp (guitar); Jim Müller (guitar); Moritz Müller (drums); Lisa Müller (keyboards) |
| Recent label | Reigning Phoenix Music |
| Official site | matsinner.com |
Beginnings in Stuttgart
Sinner is a German heavy metal band from Stuttgart built around the bassist and singer Mat Sinner. "Mat Sinner" is not his given name — the German music database laut.de records that he picked it for himself in the early 1980s. Sources disagree about when the band started. The band's own account describes it as running since 1982, and its current label Reigning Phoenix Music writes that everything began in 1982 with Mat Sinner; MusicBrainz instead gives 1980, and a 2022 HMV Japan feature says the band's formation reaches back to 1980. Since 1982 is the year of the debut album, the two readings are probably a matter of counting rather than a genuine contradiction.
That debut, Wild 'n' Evil, appeared on SL Records in 1982, and Fast Decision followed on Scratch Records in 1983. Neither record has ever reached Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer.
The Noise Records years
Danger Zone moved the band to Noise Records in 1984, the first of four albums for that label. This is the stretch that places Sinner in the first wave of German metal to travel beyond Germany, alongside Scorpions and Accept.
Accept's Herman Frank was in the line-up for Touch of Sin in 1985, and Chris Tsangarides produced Comin' Out Fighting in 1986. That same year Mat Sinner brought in the guitarist Mathias "Don" Dieth from the German band Gravestone, and the band played festivals and an extensive German tour as special guests of the English group Magnum.
Dangerous Charm, in 1987, was the last Noise album. Andy Susemihl joined to record it, and both he and Dieth left Sinner for U.D.O., the band Udo Dirkschneider was then starting — Dieth as a founding member, Susemihl on the touring line-up behind the debut Animal House.
Starting again in the 1990s
After Noise the band resumed with No More Alibis on Mausoleum in 1992; Susemihl's own biography says he played on several of its tracks. Respect followed on GSE Records in 1993, then Bottom Line in 1995 and Judgement Day in 1996, both for No Bull Records. AFM's label history records that Sinner toured with Mr. Big and Savatage in this period.
The Nuclear Blast years
The band signed to Nuclear Blast in 1998 for The Nature of Evil, which AFM describes as a deliberate turn back toward straight heavy metal. It reached No. 63 on the German album chart and was followed by a support tour with Deep Purple; Nuclear Blast's own history says Ian Gillan thanked the band personally afterwards and called them the best special guests of the 1990s. Sinner played Wacken Open Air in 1999.
The End of Sanctuary reached No. 87 in Germany in 2000. The members then spent three years on their other bands — Primal Fear, Saxon and Masterplan — before returning with There Will Be Execution in 2003, recorded at House of Music Studios in Winterbach. Primal Fear's Ralf Scheepers sings backing vocals on its track "Finalizer". The Nuclear Blast contract ran from 1998 to 2007.
The AFM years
Mask of Sanity was recorded at Leon studio outside Stuttgart by Achim Köhler and Samson Geiger and issued by MTM Music in 2007, with former Primal Fear drummer Klaus Sperling behind the kit.
Around eighteen months later Crash & Burn began the AFM Records run. The European tour behind it was followed by Sinner's first ever dates in South America and Russia. One Bullet Left reached No. 65 in Germany in 2011, with André Hilgers of Rage on drums and Alex Beyrodt of Primal Fear and Voodoo Circle on guitar.
Touch of Sin 2, in 2013, re-recorded the band's own 1980s songs and added a few new ones. Tequila Suicide followed in 2017, produced by Mat Sinner with Dennis Ward and carrying guests Gus G, Ricky Warwick and Pete Lincoln. On Santa Muerte in 2019 the band had a permanent second voice for the first time, according to AFM's announcement — Giorgia Colleluori of Eternal Idol.
Primal Fear, and Mat Sinner's other work
Mat Sinner founded Primal Fear with Ralf Scheepers in 1997, after Scheepers had sung on Gamma Ray's first three albums and left that band. Sinner and Primal Fear shared personnel for years afterwards: Tom Naumann, Henny Wolter, Alex Beyrodt, Klaus Sperling and Magnus Karlsson all appear in both histories.
Mat Sinner also spent eight years as Nuclear Blast's label manager and now holds the title of senior consultant at Atomic Fire. Alongside the band he has played in Alex Beyrodt's Voodoo Circle, in Level 10 with Russell Allen and in Kiske/Somerville, and produced records for others including Ralf Scheepers' solo album Scheepers. He is the musical director and co-producer of the European arena tour Rock Meets Classic.
The last album
The band signed to Atomic Fire Records for Brotherhood in 2022, made by the four-piece of Mat Sinner, Tom Naumann, Alex Scholpp and Markus Kullmann and mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios in Denmark. Sources disagree on its German chart peak; the label's current page gives No. 12.
In November 2025 Mat Sinner announced that he was drawing the band to a close and would give the rest of his musical career to Primal Fear. A phrase from that statement became the title of the last record.
Boom Bang Goodbye, released by Reigning Phoenix Music on 31 July 2026, is that record. Mat Sinner has said it was never planned: after roughly two years on hold while he concentrated on Primal Fear, he wrote it between November and the middle of December 2025. Seven guest vocalists appear — Ronnie Romero, Michael Bormann, Michael Sadler, Björn "Speed" Strid, Erik Mårtensson, Renan Zonta and Sascha Krebs — and Mat Sinner produced it, with Jacob Hansen mixing and mastering. Ward Records issues the Japanese edition on 21 August 2026.
Sinner in Japan
Sinner's records have reached Japan through a succession of different domestic labels. Victor Entertainment handled the Noise catalogue under the Noise International name: the 1994 compilation The Best of Sinner -Noise Years- (VICP-8136), two 1999 twofers pairing the four Noise albums (VICP-60780 and VICP-60782), and the double-disc Emerald - The Very Best of Sinner that December.
Zero Corporation and MVP took the 1990s albums. The Japanese Judgement Day (XRCN-1286) is dated 26 September 1996 and the Japanese The Nature of Evil (XRCN-2030) 24 June 1998 — both ahead of the German editions. Later came The End of Sanctuary and There Will Be Execution on Victor, the latter with two Japan-only bonus tracks; Mask of Sanity on Super Sonic; Crash & Burn on King Records' Nexus imprint with three bonus tracks; and One Bullet Left on Blind World Records.
Santa Muerte arrived in 2019 on Avalon/Marquee as the first Japanese edition in some time, and Ward Records has handled both Brotherhood and Boom Bang Goodbye. In June 2024 Metal-Vybe reissued three of the AFM albums domestically. Japanese retailers write the band's name as シナー.
The band has played in Japan. In AFM Records' own announcement for Santa Muerte, Mat Sinner explains that before making Giorgia Colleluori a full member he tried her out on stage on three older songs at concerts in Australia, Japan and Germany — which places those shows before the album's 2019 release.
Members
Mat Sinner
Bass and vocals. The band's founder and the one constant across every album, co-founder of Primal Fear, and for eight years Nuclear Blast's label manager.
Alex Scholpp
Guitar. In the line-up from One Bullet Left in 2011 and central to the later records; he shared the production work on the last album with Mat Sinner.
Jim Müller
Lead guitar, named in the label's line-up for the final album.
Moritz Müller
Drums, in the final line-up.
Lisa Müller
Keyboards, in the final line-up.
Discography (as registered on this site)
| Year | Title | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Wild 'n' Evil | Album |
| 1983 | Fast Decision | Album |
| 1984 | Danger Zone | Album |
| 1985 | Touch of Sin | Album |
| 1986 | Comin' Out Fighting | Album |
| 1987 | Dangerous Charm | Album |
| 1992 | No More Alibis | Album |
| 1993 | Respect | Album |
| 1995 | Bottom Line | Album |
| 1996 | Judgement Day | Album |
| 1998 | The Nature of Evil | Album |
| 2000 | The End of Sanctuary | Album |
| 2003 | There Will Be Execution | Album |
| 2007 | Mask of Sanity | Album |
| 2008 | Crash & Burn | Album |
| 2011 | One Bullet Left | Album |
| 2013 | Touch of Sin 2 | Album |
| 2017 | Tequila Suicide | Album |
| 2019 | Santa Muerte | Album |
| 2022 | Brotherhood | Album |
| 2026 | Boom Bang Goodbye | Album |
Sources
This account draws on Reigning Phoenix Music's official artist page, the label histories published by AFM Records and Nuclear Blast, Mat Sinner's official site (matsinner.com), the Primal Fear official site, reporting by Blabbermouth.net and BraveWords, a Dead Rhetoric interview with Mat Sinner from August 2026, and the official biographies of Andy Susemihl and Mathias "Don" Dieth. Japanese edition details come from the official pages of Victor Entertainment, Marquee/Avalon and Ward Records, and from TOWER RECORDS ONLINE, HMV&BOOKS online and diskunion. Release information and running orders follow MusicBrainz cross-checked against Apple Music and Deezer, with the printed sleeve deciding wherever those disagreed. Album ordinals are not used here, because the sources do not agree on them.
Trivia
The cover of the Killers' "When You Were Young" on 2022's Brotherhood is not a Japan-only extra, though its position at the end of the Japanese edition makes it look like one. Ward Records, the Japanese licensee, labels it a worldwide bonus track — the physical editions everywhere carry it, and Japan simply inherited it.
Santa Muerte in 2019 gave Sinner a permanent second lead voice for the first time: the Italian singer Giorgia Colleluori. In the label's own announcement Mat Sinner sets out the route she took into the band. He hired her first as a backing vocalist on Rock Meets Classic, the arena production he directs, then put her on stage for three older Sinner songs at concerts in Australia, Japan and Germany before making her a full member.
The lead guitar on "Born to Run", from the farewell album Boom Bang Goodbye, is played by Mathias "Don" Dieth, who was in Sinner in the 1980s. It is his first appearance on a Sinner studio recording in around forty years, since Comin' Out Fighting and Dangerous Charm — after which he left to become a founding member of U.D.O.
Touch of Sin 2, the 2013 record on which Sinner re-cut its own 1980s songs, exists because the Noise-era master tapes were gone. Mat Sinner said in an interview that he had been told the originals had mysteriously disappeared and were probably burned in what he pointedly called an accidental fire.
The last album was made the opposite way. Boom Bang Goodbye was recorded entirely remotely, every contributor working in his own home setup, because — as Mat Sinner told Metal Hammer — the budget to put everyone in one studio no longer exists. It is the exact reverse of the condition he had insisted on in 2013.
Brotherhood was finished without the man whose name is on the band. With the songs written and tracking due in May 2021, Mat Sinner was hospitalised with a pulmonary oedema and heart trouble. Guitarist Tom Naumann has said that Mat phoned him from there and handed him the job of completing the record, and that he felt deeply honoured to be asked.
In September 2025 a search engine's generated biography treated Mat Sinner as dead. The text was written throughout in the past tense, and its opening paragraph closed with the words "until his death in April 2023". He answered it with a photograph taken from the stage in Stuttgart, writing that he was standing there alive on 20 September 2025, playing the finest tour of his career.
Sinner's live history was built as a support act rather than as a headliner. The label's own account runs through the names in order: Mr. Big and Savatage in the mid-1990s, then Deep Purple after The Nature of Evil, then Ronnie James Dio after The End of Sanctuary.
News
Sinner Release Visualizer For “Turn The Page” From Final Album “Boom Bang Goodbye”
The song features Michael Sadler of Saga on lead vocals, and the video went up on the channel of the band’s label Reigning Phoenix Music. Ward Records issued the Japanese edition of the album on 21 August.
Play MVSINNER’s Final Album ‘Boom Bang Goodbye’ Gets Its Japanese Edition Today
The last studio album from the band led by Mat Sinner arrives in Japan as GQCS-91782 (3,300 yen incl. tax) with Japanese liner notes and translated lyrics. Its eleven tracks feature guest vocalists including Ronnie Romero, Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse) and Michael Sadler (Saga).
PRIMAL FEAR To Release 'Shadow Riders' Album In April 2027
Bassist and producer Mat Sinner told KNAC.COM that the follow-up to September 2025's “Domination” is due in April 2027, with two singles and videos expected to start arriving as early as January 2027.
DROWNING POOL And SALIVA To Unite For 25th-Anniversary Tour Celebrating 'Sinner' And 'Every Six Seconds'
The two bands are joining forces for a co-headlining U.S. tour marking 25 years since both albums were released.
Albums
Announced as SINNER's final studio album and released by Reigning Phoenix Music. Seven guest vocalists appear, among them Ronnie Romero and Michael Bormann, and Jacob Hansen mixed and mastered it at Hansen Studios in Denmark.
The band's first album for Atomic Fire Records, made by the four-piece of Mat Sinner, Tom Naumann, Alex Scholpp and Markus Kullmann, and mixed by Jacob Hansen.
The first SINNER album with a permanent second voice, Giorgia Colleluori, alongside Mat Sinner. Ricky Warwick and Ronnie Romero guest on it, and Dennis Ward co-produced and mixed.
Produced by Mat Sinner with Dennis Ward, and carrying guest appearances from Gus G, Ricky Warwick and Pete Lincoln.
A set of SINNER's 1980s songs re-recorded, with a few new ones added. David Readman and Erik Martensson are among the guest vocalists.
Recorded in Stuttgart with Mat Sinner producing and Achim Köhler engineering, it reached number 65 on the German album chart. Rage drummer André Hilgers and Alex Beyrodt play on it.
Released by AFM Records. The European tour behind it was followed by SINNER's first ever South American and Russian dates.
Recorded at Leon studio outside Stuttgart with engineers Achim Köhler and Samson Geiger, and issued by MTM Music. Former Primal Fear drummer Klaus Sperling plays on it.
The band's return after a three-year gap, recorded at House of Music Studios in Winterbach. Primal Fear's Ralf Scheepers sings backing vocals on "Finalizer".
The first Nuclear Blast album, and a deliberate turn back toward straight heavy metal. It reached number 63 in Germany and was followed by a support tour with Deep Purple.
A mid-1990s album from the period when SINNER toured with Mr. Big and Savatage. Japan had its own edition through Zero Corporation.
The band's return after the Noise years, on Mausoleum. Andy Susemihl played guitar on several tracks, and Victor issued the album in Japan.
SINNER's last album for Noise. Andy Susemihl joined to record it, and Mathias "Don" Dieth left afterwards to become a founding member of U.D.O.
Produced by Chris Tsangarides. Around this record SINNER played an extensive German tour as special guests of Magnum.
The follow-up to Danger Zone, recorded with Accept guitarist Herman Frank in the line-up.
SINNER's first album for Noise Records, and the start of the run that placed the band in the first wave of German metal.
The second album, released by Scratch Records in the period before the band moved to Noise.
The debut album, released by SL Records — the first record by the band Mat Sinner started in 1980.