Afterburner

Brutal and dark death metal from the Netherlands. This one gets a high rating from me because it is so intricate and unique. I think the world of this release, it's one gem that you want to pass up. The vocals are what keeps this release dark and the music is technical and a virtual onslaught. These guys don't let up on the intensity here. Throughout this release flourishes with utmost dynamite! The guitars are wicked and thick with brutality. I'm surprised that they only averaged a "B" overall especially after hearing this the first time on their release. Maybe it was the 45 some minutes in duration that wasn't enough for listeners?

The drums are way on top as well, they segue into this harsh and bludgeoning platter that delights your primary template! The music, the vocals and the production quality is way up there and they deserve the right rating that I'm giving to them!

It makes no difference what they sing about, what matters is the overall sound. The thickness in the guitars shows you how guitars should sound especially on the rhythm guitar. They're not too intricate with what the lead guitar capacity is, it's the riffs that flourish.

These guys deserve more recognition than what they get. I think that despite them being from the Netherlands makes no difference on the quality of the output. The grueling vocals makes the music sound grimmer and much more of an onslaught than anything else. People may think that I'm being generous with my review score, I'm actually doing them what they deserve which is giving the band fairness! I think that this band paved the way to many other great bands ideas and sounds that wouldn't be possible if Sinister wasn't around! They've hit their mark with the ultimate in death metal and will be till their demise. This band is highly underrated!

The most things that I like from this release is the music, vocals and production quality! Sinister is one band that you never want to overlook. Maybe the earlier material, but "Afterburner" is one hell of a musical onslaught!

If I can be honest, I kind of lost interest in Sinister music in recent years. This band is very productive, I know that, and released quite many albums. But I just stopped caring for them at some point, maybe because each next album was "just another Sinister" and none would get even close to the greatness of such "Cross the Styx" or "Hate". Sinister's debut LP shows everything the best this band has ever had to offer - killer songs from start to finish, truly incredible riffs, one of the most evil and vicious death metal of the 90's. I love every fuckin sound from it. Obviously, it's not the only album from Sinister discography I like, but it's the one, which is best for me.

I think that the last Sinister record, which really stands out for me is "Afterburner". Released in 2006, it was a true return to form, especially after that pile of crap, which "Savage or Grace" was. It also introduced a new line up, in which Aad Kloosterwaard switched from drums to the vocals, and new drummer filled in. It's one of those albums, which I can say presents the highest quality, without any seconds of fillers or boredom. And in many ways, I like to think that "Afterburner" is just as good as "Diabolical Summoning" or "Hate", so it's worthy successor of these albums and an important piece of this band's discography.

That it is Sinister, not any other death metal band, you can notice right from the very first song. Sinister is a band, which always had its own style and identity, which you cannot mistake with any other act. And it's awesome that despite the line up changes, especially the guitarists, "Afterburner" still sounds like classic Sinister, so the new members learned this style perfectly. On "Afterburner" you can hear all these specific, vicious and aggressive riffs, all these characteristic arrangements, song structures and ideas, which follow the recipes first created on the demos and early records. What's great is that "Afterburner" instead of sounding repetitive and tired, still sounds fresh and fantastic. Every song bursts with passionate energy and power that shall crush the walls. Every song is filled with impressive, killer riffage (fairly technical, yet memorable somehow), I love the feeling they have and how memorable, yet aggressive this stuff is. This whole content is nicely diverse, tempo wise there's plenty of fast, as well as slower parts and what I love is that there are even some melodic bits included here and there, what gives the music an extra flavour. Oh, just check "The Grey Massacre" and how brilliantly they included that well know musical theme there. Killer result and fantastic song. Check also "Flesh of the Servant", which has a bit of Nile-esque type of harmony. So you can hear that Sinister tried to include some different ideas, which would make their style fresher and not so repetitive... And they did it incredibly well, in many songs here.

And finally I am happy to say that Add did great job as a vocalist, surely better than Rachel Heyzer, who didn't sound brutal enough for me. I have just nothing to moan about here, for me this is just one of the finest moments in Sinister career. I really recommend it. If only the artwork for it was better... I hate that photoshoped crap on it.

Standout tracks: "The Grey Massacre", "Flesh of the Servant", "Afterburner"
Verdict: 80/100

I'd never really gotten into Sinister until this album. I thought they were good, but they never really stood out much. When they broke up around 2003 after the release of their album 'Savage or Grace', I didn't give much thought to it and just figured I'd never hear from them again.

A couple years and a few much needed lineup changes later, Sinister finally came into their own with 'Afterburner'. Perpetual drummer Aad Kloosterwaard turned drum duties over to newcomer Paul Beltman (who left the band just days ago), and Paul did an outstanding job drumming here, doing all kinds of rhythmic changes and fills throughout the album. Alex Paul, bassist for the band at the time of their 2003 split-up, returns on bass as well as guitars and
shreds all over the place for the 45 minute running time of the album Sinister's longest album ever). I don't understand why Sinister has gone through so many vocalists when they've had an amazing growler since they started-Aad, finally taking his rightful place as frontman on "Afterburner" (rightfully so, he's the only consistent member of the band) and howling like a
beast.

Now down to the songs. Sinister has finally learned how to keep a song interesting for more than 3 minutes. With the average track running over 5 minutes, and two slower, nearly 8 minute songs, there is a lot to bang your head to on this one. They waste almost no time getting to business on the opening track "The Grey Massacre", getting right to a riff-intensive start.
The first 4 songs are all very fast for the most part, but each are so different riff-wise, it doesn't get boring. Suddenly, halfway through the album comes a doomy slow-burner called "Presage of the Mindless", which is quite possibly the best song on the album, suddenly and unexpectedly picking up about 6 and a half minutes in. "The Riot Crossfire", the shortest track on the album at just under 4 minutes, is an instant pit classic. I can envision bodies flying to this song, especially at the breakdown around 2 and a half minutes in (a great example of the right way to do a breakdown). Closer "Flesh of the Servant" ends the album with some of the most creative 8 minutes of death metal I've heard in a while.

All in all, I daresay this is the best album Sinister has made thus far. I sincerely hope they continue releasing albums of this caliber in the future.


Standout tracks: Altruistic Suicide, Afterburner, Presage of the Mindless, The Riot Crossfire