SINISTER with MASTER, PIG'S BLOOD, and PENETRATION

South Holland's Sinister were among the first death metal bands from the Netherlands to earn a global profile. Despite their revolving door lineup (vocalist Aad Kloosterwaard is the only original member), the band's attack remains strident, physical, and technically proficient, with a nearly constant sonic signature. Their cold, brutal guitar riffs and groove-laden drumming, blastbeats, chunky bass rhythms, and roaring guttural vocals have more in common with American bands (particularly from Florida) than European ones. A series of early demos in 1990 and 1991 garnered the metal underground's attention but it was their debut full-length, 1992's Cross the Styx for , that cemented Sinister's reputation for uncompromising brutality and made them stand out. The '90s saw Sinister continue to furrow deeper into the granularity of death metal orthodoxy even as other musicians moved on to play different extreme music subgenres. With 2001's Creative Killings, Sinister became one of the first death metal bands with a female vocalist in Rachel Heyzer. They essentially imploded after 2003's Savage or Grace and returned with new members for 2006's Afterburner, which was received as a return to form. The band moved to for 2008's The Silent Howling. Despite constant lineup changes, Sinister have continued to issue new studio recordings roughly every two years, including the globally acclaimed Syncretism in 2017.
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