UMUR
"Creative Killings" is the 5th full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Sinister. The album was released through Hammerheart Records in November 2001. It´s the successor to "Aggressive Measures" from 1998 and features one lineup change since the predecessor, as lead vocalist Eric de Windt has been replaced by female vocalist Rachel Heyzer-Kloosterwaard (formerly of Occult).
"Aggressive Measures (1998)" featured a slight change in sound compared to the first three albums by Sinister, as it incorporated a lot of brutal grooves to the band´s US influenced death metal sound, but on "Creative Killings", Sinister are back in more familiar territories and the brutal grooves aren´t as dominant anymore. So this is fairly brutal old school death metal influenced by the most technically well played part of the early 90s US death metal scene (artists like Suffocation, Brutality, and Deicide), but with the focus not being on the technical part of that sound, but more on the fast-paced brutality.
The material is relatively well written, but not always instantly memorable. New lead vocalist Rachel Heyzer-Kloosterwaard is a "hand over microphone" type growler, and her performance is a bit one-dimensional and lacks some passion and aggression. In that regard she is just a fairly standard growling vocalist, who gets the job done, but doesn´t add anything extra to the music. The musicianship is otherwise solid, but again nothing out of the ordinary. Solid drumming, nice brutal guitar riffs, and those standard growling vocals.
"Creative Killings" features a sound production which leaves a bit to be desired. The guitar tone is not that well sounding, and the drums have a thin powerless sound. I didn´t notice the bass, but that´s not unusual for this type of death metal. It´s still a minor issue though, that it isn´t audible. So upon conclusion "Creative Killings" is quite the disappointment considering the brilliance of "Aggressive Measures (1998)". It´s like all elements have been taken down a notch in quality. The change on the lead vocalist spot hasn´t contributed with anything good, the sound production is much weaker on "Creative Killings" compared to the production on the predecessor, and the songwriting is not as inspired or creative as it was on "Aggressive Measures (1998)" either. "Creative Killings" is still a decent enough death metal release, and I wouldn´t call it terrible or anything like that, but it´s not at all what I expected after Sinister´s first four albums, and therefore a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.