UMUR
"Perpetual Damnation" is the first demo recording by Dutch death metal act Sinister. The demo was independently released in March 1990. "Perpetual Damnation" features four tracks and a total playing time of 16:56 minutes. All four tracks would be re-recorded and included on Sinister´s debut full-length studio album "Cross the Styx" (January 1992, Nuclear Blast Records).
Considering that this is an early 1990 death metal demo, it´s surprisingly brutal, dark, and not particularly thrashy, although the music of course features some elements of brutal thrash as it´s a part of most old school death metal releases. Sinister already this early on had found a core sound, and they executed it well.
"Perpetual Damnation" doesn´t feature a professional studio sound production, but it´s still a well produced demo recording, and you can hear most details in the music. It´s both powerful and brutal sounding too, perfectly suiting the brutality of the material. For at first demo release Sinister have done very well and it´s no wonder they got signed relatively fast (although one more demo had to be recorded). A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.