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Sinister > Syncretism > Reviews
Sinister - Syncretism

A successful syncretism of elements and ideas - 85%

DarkLore, June 23rd, 2017

Syncretism, Sinister's 13th album is here to prove that the band is still alive and as hellish as ever. I consider most of the band's catalogue to be at least decent, including many great releases. Their first three albums: Cross the Styx, Diabolical Summoning and Hate are generally considered as brutal oldschool death metal classics, and recordings like Afterburner and The Silent Howling also were great offerings. Their two previous albums, The Carnage Ending and The Post-Apocalyptic Servant were solid and competent doses of intense, destructive death metal, although I didn't find them very intriguing, nor I had the craving for repeated spins.

Syncretism on the other hand, retains the aggressiveness and the intensity of those two albums, while the songwriting has been improved. It is far more dynamic, varied and interesting. This album is not all about scorching musical hellfire; there is plenty of that of course, but there is also a feeling of demonic, perverted darkness and impending doom throughout the recording, which is a new dimension in the band's sound. This effort shows a whole new level of atmospheric depth, never heard before in any Sinister's album, it's darker and has a lot more mysticism. Those atmospheres I'm referring to, are achieved by several resources, such as eerie and mysterious keyboards, synthphonic segments, ritual-like chants, and twisted guitar melodies. All those elements are smartly used for the best of the effects, enriching vastly Sinister's music. There are other unexpected elements to be found in this album, like the eastern melodies that can be heard on the track "Convulsions of Christ", providing even more variety to the recording. Syncretism stills sound like a Sinister album, however, these guys didn't repeat themselves, and they succeeded in giving the band's classic style a really great twist.

In terms of performance, the band sounds tight as fuck, intense, destructive and precise at the same time. The guitarwork is excellent, rich and detailed, with good hooks plus riffs full of variety. There are some technical flurries and flourishes here and there, good soloing, some groovier chugs, and lots of swirling, really fast merciless riffs. The drummer is a beast, able to blast and double bass to hell and back, but there are plenty of tempo changes, so the percussion doesn't get monotonous. Guest/session member Carsten Altena, deserves to be mentioned, as he is responsible of the keyboards, that are one of the strongest points of this album. The production is neat and modern, but not synthetic and artificial, as some times happens with modern productions. It helps everything to fit together and to be adequately balanced. That way, the keyboards don't overshadow the guitars.

One of the weakest points of the album are the vocals. Ironically, Aad, former drummer and current vocalist, is the only original member remaining in the band. His vocals are not terrible, not even bad, mind you, but they have too much echo and are not as powerful, demonic and overwhelming as this kind of album would require. We also find many high pitched shrieks that are just OK, nothing very outstanding. Anyway, we are talking about minor issues, considering that this record is very good in almost any other aspect, and Aad does a good enough job.

To sum it up, Syncretism is a successful and mature album by a veteran band, that keeps releasing quality efforts after all these years. The album's title couldn't be more appropriate, as the band really merges its trademark brutal, compact, and fierce style, with many new interesting elements. The synthphonic bits, the chanting, the keyboards... all are great additions to the band's sound, and all are very well integrated within the songs, fitting Sinister's style perfectly, and enriching it at the same time, a true syncretism indeed. I really enjoyed this fresher, more atmospheric version of Sinister, and I think that any extreme metal fan will enjoy it as well. Even if you lost track of the band a long time ago, give this album a chance, it might surprise you.


Stay METAL.

DarkLore

A sinister tale from the abyss - 95%

slayrrr666, June 11th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Massacre Records

One of the most respected and uncompromising bands in the scene, Dutch death metal legends Sinister have weathered the storm of continuous line-up changes and the times to usher a monster of untethered ferocity and savageness that follows the path of their previous work. Joined by new guitarist Ricardo Falcon and bassist Ghislain van der Stel prior to the release, the groups’ thirteenth studio album was February 24, 2017 on Massacre Records.

As part of their continued history, the band is firing on all cylinders and making for some of the most sonically devastating work of their career. The main focus here is on ravenous, churning riff-work with plenty of tight, chaotic leads that frantically buzz along to the ferocious tempos featured here, and this makes for a stylistically enjoyable offering. These typically envelop the sort of dark atmospheres associated with the early days of the scene when they first appeared, and with the bands’ choppy rhythm section delivering a loud, churning backbone to this material the band offers quite a thunderous full-throttle charge offset by celestial keyboards for a majestic melodic bent. That style of melodic accent is enhanced slightly on the slower-tempo styles where things slow down into a slight chug that adds a great base for some of the keyboards that are placed throughout here to take on a far grander sense of scale and tone than otherwise would be the case here for most older-sounding death metal bands, and that works to its advantage here. This is overall fast, frantic and utterly ferocious in its delivery focusing on the savage riff-work and leaves the melodic accents to select spaces rather than overwhelming the album which can happen here. Some of the longer tracks could’ve been shortened by a minute or two and still leave this with a brutal beatdown, but it’s the one minor flaw in this effort.

Showing every bit of the measured attack and viciousness that’s defined their career thus far, this is a pretty savage offering that maintains their revered name in the scene overall and sees this as a wholly worthwhile offering for any fan into extreme metal, their past works or old-school death metal in general.