Any follower of European death metal has likely heard some material from Sinister, as the Dutch band released three standout albums in the early 90s and has remained a regular name in the genre ever since. Their modern incarnation, which has featured former drummer now turned vocalist Aad Kloosterwaard and a revolving door of musicians since 2005, has had plenty of ups and downs when it comes to their albums but 2017’s Syncretism proved to be a high point that proved there was still plenty of life in the long-running band. Three years later Sinister has gone through some additional lineup shifts and returned with their fourteenth album Deformation of the Holy Realm. Offering up equal doses of punishing, brutal riffs and haunting melodic passages, this release proves to be another solid effort that doesn’t drastically reinvent the band’s established sound but has enough substance to be worth your attention.
Unlike some of the other bands from the Netherlands, Sinister has always had a brutal approach to death metal that recalled the classic Florida sound. This has proven to be a strength and weakness for the group, as some of their discography has come through as a bit too one-dimensional and songs started to blue together. Deformation of the Holy Realm finds the instrumentals balancing this brutality with melodic and atmospheric moments that almost push towards melodeath territory while still maintaining the old-school feel. Following an ominous intro that utilizes synths to create an appropriately epic build-up, the title track launches in with the type of crushing tonality and fast paced blasting that you’d expect from death metal of this type. But by the time you get to the next track “Apostles of the Weak” it becomes clear that Sinister is just as focused on melodies as they are heavy hitting instrumentation as flourishes of acoustic guitar and other atmospheric elements are added in. It’s an approach that works to the album’s advantage and helps to make the songs a bit more distinguishable from each other than they have been at other points in the band’s discography. While there’s a feeling of consistency throughout, I did find that the songwriting seemed to stand out more on the second half, especially on tracks like “Suffering From Immortal Death” and “The Ominous Truth” where melodic leads and scorching solos really stick out and grab you from beginning to end.
Despite his original role in Sinister as its drummer, Aad Kloosterwaard has really filled the vocalist role well over the last fifteen years and he delivers another strong performance here. If you’ve heard any of the albums since Afterburner you should have a good idea of what to expect here, as the guttural growls tower over the instrumentation and help to fill out the bottom end of the sound significantly. Though Kloosterwaard’s pitch stays at around the same range for much of the album, there are some backing screams that help to break things up throughout Deformation of the Holy Realm. It may not deviate significantly from the approach death metal has gone for with vocals for three decades, but Sinister continue to do it justice and the vocals bludgeon you with every chance they get.
Although the second half stands out a bit more, this is still a worthy follow-up to Syncretism and another strong showing from this incarnation of the band. If you’d written them off for some of the lulls of the early to mid-2010s, they’re worth giving another shot as there are some killer old-school riffs and just the right amount of powerful melodic leads to make the material stand out. Sinister still has plenty of life left in them and have started this decade off in the right direction. Deformation of the Holy Realm is available from Massacre Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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