If Europe has an equivalent to CANNIBAL CORPSE, it’s got to be SINISTER. These Dutch madmen have been going at it at least as long as the Boys from Buffalo…this is their 14th album! And they are still as brutal as a nightstick shoved down your throat!
With hyper-aggressive death metal, there’s a certain amount of monotony that arises and while SINISTER doesn’t totally avoid it, they do a pretty good job of keeping it at bay here. Hard to believe a band with a 30-year history can still smash skulls and tear out guts like this. The tunes are fast and ravaging, but there are chunky chugging parts and melodic guitar solos here as well. They play around with “churchy” sounding music on the likes of ‘Scourged By Demons’ and ‘Oasis Of Peace – Blood From The Chalice’ where monkish choirs and ominous strings appear. I even dug the outro ‘Entering The Underworld’, with its watery guitars and piano.
It does kind of blur together after a spell and certainly SINISTER don’t tinker with their proven formula too much. Adie Kloosterwaard has been dishing out the growls for longer than a lot of death metal fans have been alive and has never really let up on the brutality. If you’re looking for that reliable jolt of rancid, roaring death, SINISTER deliver the goods once more…
Review By: Dr. Abner Mality
SINISTER
Deformation Of The Holy Realm
AFM Records
4 / 6