Sinister: Hate (1995)

If I had to pick a death metal band that was the most underrated, I think Sinister would be on the short list.  The Dutch band has been prolific, releasing 13 albums since their inception in the late 1980's.  And they have been fairly consistent, despite a number of lineup changes over the years.  In fact, at this point, only the vocalist remains from the original lineup, and until 2005, he was the band's drummer.  Nevertheless, the music remains high quality.  One could argue that have been inconsistent in their consistence.

The early Sinister material is absolute top-notch death metal, carrying a strong influence from the U.S. scene, particularly from the Tampa area.  And that is what we have in this release, the band's third full-length after their first two amazing albums.  But where Cross the Styx and Diabolical Summoning were more raw in their approach, Hate finds the band settling into a groove, a groove that they would continue for much of their career to this point.  The band has refined their songwriting skills, found a way to truly tell a story with the release, and streamlined their sound.

Sinister crafts a dark and evil atmosphere on this release to go along with occult-based lyrics that put groups like Deicide to shame.  The Deicide comparison is apt regarding the musical style as well since this is a fast-paced release with tempo changes and fragments of technical riffwork.  The bass is very thick on the release producing a lot of bottom end.  This thing is damn heavy.  Most of the songs feature a variety of melodies or riffs all fighting for their time in the spotlight.  The band is able to switch gears quickly and seemlessly.  The one constant is brutality.

This is one of the better Sinister albums among a long line of impressive releases.  I still prefer their earlier material and this is where everything really seemed to come together.  It remains a shame that Sinister was never able to capture the same attention as other death metal bands of their time period.  Especially when they were putting out albums of this caliber.