SINISTER — Afterburner (review)

SINISTER — Afterburner album cover Album · 2006 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Afterburner" is the 7th full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Sinister. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in April 2006. It´s the successor to "Savage or Grace" from 2003. Quite a few things happened in the years between the two albums. Sinister disbanded shortly after the release of "Savage or Grace (2003)" and drummer Aad Kloosterwaard and bassist Alex Paul formed No Face Slave. In 2005 Kloosterwaard and Paul opted to begin playing under the Sinister monicker again, and added drummer Paul Beltman to the lineup completing the band´s new three-piece lineup. Kloosterwaard moved from drums to vocals and Paul plays guitars in addition to handling the bass. So Rachel Van Mastrigt-Heyzer (vocals), Pascal Grevinga (guitars), and Ron van de Polder (guitars) weren´t invited back to reunite with the band.

Stylistically the material on "Afterburner" sound more or less as Sinister have sounded like since day one. Relatively brutal death metal with an occasional emphasis on heavy grooves. Quality wise the last two albums weren´t that interesting, but to my ears "Afterburner" is a return to the greatness of "Aggressive Measures (1998)". It´s not quite as focused on heavy grooves as "Aggressive Measures (1998)" was, but the brutal grooves are there and they nicely compliment the old school death metal brutality of the remaining part of the material. The tracks are generally well written and relatively catchy for the genre and there are even a couple of atmospheric parts thrown in for variation, which work really well for the flow of the album.

"Afterburner" is an album which attacks the listener with a brutal death metal assault, but because of the above mentioned features it never becomes a one-dimensional listen and when the 8 track, 45:02 minutes long album has finished playing, the listener is left wanting more, and that´s always an achievement with music as brutal as this. It´s not that Sinister stand out much from what is standard on the death metal scene, and they don´t have a sound that is overtly unique, but on "Afterburner" they do what they do with such burning conviction and great skill, that sounding unique isn´t as important as it may otherwise be with other similar sounding releases.

The bottom line is that "Afterburner" is just a really good quality death metal album, featuring memorable songwriting, strong performances (it should be mentioned here that the change on the vocalist spot has been a great improvement), and a raw and brutal sounding production job, which suits the material perfectly. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed