Following the excellent tradition of having mega Death Metal bands such as Asphyx or God Dethroned, the mother of Death Metal, Holland, gave us the chance to watch its sinister child perform live; the sharp-edged Death fucking Metal band, Sinister!
Sinister?s type of Death Metal, even though quite adorable throughout the Death Metal fans everywhere, only managed to gather about 50-60 warriors of hell in the audience. The Death Metal maniacs waited for about an hour before the live started, around 10 pm. Ex-drummer and current vocalist Aad Kloosterwaard hanged around the An Club, speaking and drinking with several deathsters, looking very cool and a very low profile guy.
The show started with Inveracity who proved to be really tight as a quartet, having a very cool sound. The audience, even though it seemed to enjoy them, did not really participate in the moshing command of the singer who had a really cool, cruel, brutal Death Metal larynx. The sound of the band could perfectly be described as a fusion of Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under and of course, their own signature sound. All the band members are excellent performers and masters of their instruments. The audience had definitely a fine time with them and was pretty warmed up for the hell which was about to be set loose. Maybe if they had added more lead parts to their sound, Inveracity could have sounded a bit more diverse and soulful.
Soon after Inveracity was finished, a sinister atmosphere seemed to surround us and we instantly knew that the time for extreme, abrupt and punchy Death Metal from the Netherlands is near. Sinister's lineup was as follows: Aad Kloosterwaard on vocals, Paul Beltman on drums, Alex Paul on guitar and Bas van den Bogaard handling the bass. Even though the band had disassembled back in 2004, they have currently reformed in 2005, with Aad on vocals. Having left behind the mediocre Savage Or Grace and rejecting successfully the idea of female vocals, they?ve done a strong comeback after several years of absence.
Sinister covered almost their entire demonic Death Metal career from the Cross The Styx (1995) up to their brand new fresh blood dripping Afterburner (out now) album. There was extensive moshing going on throughout the concert and the band seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. Alex Paul almost always turned his back towards the audience while he was playing his demanding and skilful lead parts which reminded me a bit of Eddie Van Halen in there. From the constant mayhem which lasted the entire time Sinister performed in front of us, I can distinguish and remember them playing the following Death Metal hymns: Afterburner, Into Submission, The Grey Massacre, Cross The Styx, To Mega Therion, Barbaric Order. Needless to say that the technicality of Sinister was almost beyond comparison to other bands of its kind.
The reaction of the audience was semi or whole ? ecstatic. They adored almost every single note the band delivered and seemed to be in a chaotic state of euphoria. A small problem with one of the bass drums did not seem to alter the whole climate. To sum it up, Sinister and Inveracity gave the best of themselves, performing in front of a small but hungry and thirsty for true demonic Death Metal audience, which recompensed the two bands for their playing and whole attitude.
Horns Up!
