{"id":34684,"date":"2015-06-26T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=34684"},"modified":"2015-08-06T14:17:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:17:06","slug":"album-review-sinister-dark-memorials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-sinister-dark-memorials\/","title":{"rendered":"SINISTER – Dark Memorials (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINISTER
Dark Memorials<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nMassacre (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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To mark their 25th anniversary, Dutch death metal legends Sinister has decided to release Dark Memorials<\/em>, an opus featuring ten cover versions and two bonus tracks; re-recordings of \u2018Spiritual Immolation\u2019 and \u2018Compulsory Resignation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now, if you like me you were a fan of Sinister\u2019s early demos and records then you may be quite happy with this. After all, it\u2019s likely that anything the band released from the late 90s onwards may not have impressed you; especially with 2014\u2019s The Post-Apocalyptic Servant<\/em><\/a> wearing thin after a few listens. Personally, I don\u2019t see the point in bands doing a complete covers album \u2013 although I don\u2019t mind a brace of covers perched on the end of a release. I\u2019m also not a big fan of bands re-recording their material.<\/p>\n

Sinister\u2019s new platter opens with the brief instrumental \u2018The Malicious\u2019 and then a rather average version of Sepultura\u2019s classic tune \u2018Beneath The Remains\u2019. And immediately I\u2019m turning my nose up, feeling that so many classic tunes of this ilk should remain untouched. Sinister give the track a more deathly coating although the vocals here just don\u2019t seem to come close to matching Max Cavalera\u2019s snarl, but I guess it\u2019s all very much fun and games when bands turn their hand to others work. The track does feature a hardy bass and decent percussive performance, but when all is said and done its mere novelty \u2013 the guitar lacking the cutting edge and the vocal dragging it into the realms of death metal mediocrity.<\/p>\n

Next is a rendition of Carcass\u2019 \u2018Exhume To Consume\u2019, which is pretty dreadful in my opinion; the band not even attempting to replicate the crust-coated, slime-ridden original, and so again we hear Sinister rendering a staggeringly brilliant death metal tune rather redundant. Indeed, the bloated grooves which Carcass came up with are nowhere to be seen here, and with only a few vocal effects aside \u2018Exhume…\u2019 pretty much lets me know what I\u2019m in for; Sinister clearly lacking the gritty British nature to enable the version to work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise then that Bolt Thrower\u2019s \u2018Unleashed Upon Mankind\u2019 is equally bland. But with every track on offer Sinister somehow strips away any vintage fluff and replaces it with that predictable death metal grimace, and of all the tunes only Merauder\u2019s \u2018Master Killer\u2019 and, in part, Death\u2019s \u2018Beyond The Unholy Grave\u2019 really work. In fact, Kreator\u2019s \u2018Under The Guillotine\u2019 and Autopsy\u2019s \u2018Ridden With Disease\u2019 are pretty much unrecognisable; both dull to the extreme.<\/p>\n

In a sense, Sinister shows its limitation by way of churning out each track bereft of frills or identity, and so Repulsion\u2019s \u2018Radiation Sickness\u2019 and more so Slayer\u2019s \u2018Necrophiliac\u2019 become standard death metal workouts \u2013 the only saving grace being a half-decent rendition of Carnage\u2019s \u2018Blasphemies Of The Flesh\u2019 where Sinister bring an extra dose of rotten fuzz to proceedings.<\/p>\n

Sinister\u2019s \u2018Spiritual Immolation\u2019 and \u2018Compulsory Resignation\u2019 originally appeared on the band\u2019s 1992 debut \u2013 and for me best \u2013 album Crossing The Styx<\/em>, and while these re-recordings act as a timely reminder of how good death metal was in the early 90s they are still unnecessary additions which may appeal to Sinister collectors but hardly anyone else. I guess I\u2019m just too old fashioned to appreciate the entertaining side of cover versions and re-recordings which aren\u2019t fit to lace the boots of the originals. But happy anniversary anyway guys!<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SINISTERDark Memorials Massacre (2015)Rating: 6\/10 To mark their 25th anniversary, Dutch death metal legends Sinister has decided to release Dark Memorials, an opus featuring ten cover versions and two bonus tracks; re-recordings of \u2018Spiritual Immolation\u2019 and \u2018Compulsory Resignation\u2019. Now, if you like me you were a fan of Sinister\u2019s early demos and records then you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1318],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sinister"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34684"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34703,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34684\/revisions\/34703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}