Sinister - Diabolical Summoning (1993) Death Metal Review

 In 1993, Dutch death metal band Sinister, released their album "Diabolical Summoning" with the Nuclear Blast label and it is easily their best.

The album has very eye-catching artwork which drew me to it. It reminds me of something out of the Mortal Kombat game series. I often played albums such as this one and Slayer's "Hell Awaits" while playing the game. Just great artwork and the music matches it.

The opening track, "Sadistic Intent" (later to become a band name), is my favorite. It opens with a sick bassline before pummeling you with ultra-heavy guitars and guttural vocals. I'm not super big on "cookie monster" vocals but it works for the music here which is intense and played at breakneck speed. Actually, Mike van Mastrigt is above average for this type of vocal.

I guess one could complain that all the songs sound the same, but to quote the Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator from Austrian Death Machine's masterpiece album "Total Brutal", "that's because they all sound brutal!" And "Magnified Wrath" is the very definition of brutal. Aad Kloosterwaard's drums are really something to behold.

The title track "Diabolical Summoning" is a thrashier track that reminds me of Suffocation the way it slaps and slams. Andre Tolhuizen writes some incredible riffs and plays them almost as fast as humanly possible. It makes for some serious headbanging material.

Much the same can be said about the remaining tracks. What surprises me most about this album is how underrated it is. You never ever hear it mentioned. When brutal death metal of the 90's is discussed, everyone talks about Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Cryptopsy. But no one ever mentions Sinister or this album, even though it is everything that one could want from a 90's brutal death metal album. Honestly I kind of like this better than the aforementioned bands, though for me Suffocation reigns supreme over brutal 90's death metal.

"Leviathan" has more great basslines. I really like how Bart van Wallenberg's bass fits into the music here, a lot of death metal bands basically render bass superfluous, which I find to be a shame. I also really dig the lyrics.

"Beneath the sea the darklord dwells,

breeding hellspawn endlessly

Great serpent the enormous worm,

snake with the sharpened claw

Leviathan, so called lord

Behemoth of the deep

Dead with pain, awake to slay

Merciless vengeance crawls

Blasphemous dark angel

Lord of the faithless depths

Covered with the signs of the dead

Necromancer of forbidden art

Wrapped in mysteries of darkness

The dead who rides the whirlwind

Master, author of pain"

I also love how cool the track titles sound. "Tribes of the Moon", "Mystical Illusions." Kind of sounds like a Yugioh! card actually, lol.

Bottom line: If you have a hankering for some brutal death metal from the 1990's, especially from lesser known bands, Sinister's "Diabolical Summoning" is a great album for you!