SINISTER - Hate (NUCLEAR BLAST - CD 1995)
Mid to late 90’s was a shit
time for death metal maniacs. Not many bands were spoiling them with truly
killer records. Let’s be honest; majority of bands wimped out badly, some
changed their style too drastically, some other just couldn’t deliver albums,
which would be as impressive as their earlier recordings… Obviously there were
still few bands around, which were capable to deliver real goods, but they were
mostly bands from the second row, like Dismember, Fleshcrawl, Vomitory, Vader,
Monstrosity, to name just few… and obviously also Sinister was still very
impressive. Previously they released two absolutely killer albums and finally
in 1995 the time came for “Hate”! Just before this CD was released, there were
some line up changes, sadly this is also the last album, which Sinister did
with the original vocalist Mike van Mastrigt, who left just after “Bastard
Saints” EP… So, maybe this is why I also think that past-“Hate” Sinister is no
quite as good anymore… OK, “Aggressive Measures” is still damn strong, but I
cannot say the same about some other stuff Sinister did. So, “Hate” is also the
last Sinister album I really, really like a lot.
There are some absolutely
fantastic tracks here and some of the most vicious and aggressive, evil
sounding pieces that Sinister ever did in their long career. Already the
opening track “Awaiting the Absu” is a real crusher, starting with a killer
blasting part that immediately puts Deicide from that same era to a shame. But
this song is not only about blasts; there’s a lot of diversity, so there are
some slower, almost melodic parts also (well, listen to the ending parts of
this track! What an obscure, occult atmosphere has been created there!), some
almost catchy bits, including a killer chorus, where I always growl along with
Mike haha! And most importantly, this is truly a powerful song. When played
loud it really unleashes fury, aggression and destruction. Damn, it’s among my
favourite Sinister tracks for sure. Another killer is “To Mega Therion”, whose
description should basically be the same as for “Awaiting the Absu” – the
atmosphere in this song is also very dark and satanic and the riffing is simply
brilliant, so is the chorus part also. Finally I need to mention “The Cursed
Mayhem”, another savage and beast of a song…
Some other truly awesome songs
are “Embodiment of Chaos” and “18th Century Hellfire” – very characteristic for
Sinister, when speaking of the riff / arrangement style, but I feel like
they’re even more vicious, venomous and nasty than the stuff from “Diabolical
Summoning”. They sound really raw, even if the production is quite clean, but
damn… this is so powerful and energetic, so often deadly fast, so it’s like an
unstoppable beast… but even slower song like “Art of the Damned” is simply
impressive and I consider it to be one of the best tunes here. On the other
hand, if I was going to mention more mediocre track, then it would probably be
“Unseen Darkness”- not a bad song, but maybe not quite as brilliant as rest of
the album.
Anyways, twenty years later “Hate”
still sounds damn impressive and strong. This early Sinister era was just
unbeatable and I consider it to be one of the best, most vicious and aggressive
European bands of the time. I can comeback to their early albums many times and
never feel fed up with these sounds. So sad I cannot say the same about the
recent records of this bands, which are solid, but not even close to the brilliance
of “Cross the Styx” or “Hate”.
Standout tracks: “Awaiting the
Absu”, “To Mega Therion”, “The Cursed Mayhem”, “Art of the Damned”
Final rate: 90/100
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