Infernal Panzer Typhoon Strider

 The follow-up to 93's Diabolical Summoning, Hate delivers more top-notch 90's brutal death metal. The cover art is badass. It shows a horned-demon with multiple arms like a Hindu god (e.g. Kali) holding skull with nothing but the spine is attached as if he just performed a Mortal Kombat fatality. The demon stands a top a giant skeleton with a human in its mouth, reminiscent of Lucifer devouring Judas in Dante's Inferno. The album artwork perfectly encapsulates what the music on this album sounds like. Sick and brutal, heavy and violent. Sinister truly put the "death" in death metal! "Art of the Damned" is one of the best, it has killer thrashy guitar riffs and sick drumming by Aad Kloosterwaard. I think Mike van Mastrigt's vocals sound better on this album.  "18th Century Hellfire" has some of my favorite riffage on the album. This is the ideal death metal song! "To Mega Therion" is an excellent cover of extreme metal-pioneers Ce...

 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 ...