UMUR
"World of Evil" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Sinister Realm. The album was released through Shadow Kingdom Records in August 2013. Sinister Realm was originally formed as a side project for Pale Divine members John Gaffney (bass) and Darin McCloskey (drums), but has since evolved into a "real" band.
The band originally played traditional doom/heavy metal, but on this particular release, they´ve crossed fully into traditional heavy metal territory, with galloping rythms, harmony guitars, blazing solos, heavy edgy riffing and a raw yet melodic sounding vocalist on top. The riffs may be heavy at times, but they are not doomy. An example of that can be found in the main vers riff on the title track, which is a really heavy yet energetic riff. One of the things that Sinister Realm succeed in doing really well is combining raw and powerful riffs with epic choruses and melodic harmonies. Because of how the harmony vocals are arranged, there is slight power metal edge to the proceedings too.
The songwriting are generally on a high level and the tracks are both intriguing (even though they are predominantly vers/chorus structured) and memorable. Featuring a professional and powerful sound production "World of Evil" is on all parameters an excellent release. The music is hardly original sounding, but when you combine strong musicianship with well written material magic sometimes happens, and that´s the case here. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.