The Classic Metal Album Review:
Title: Diabolical Summoning
Artist: Sinister
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 1993

Rating: 5 Skulls
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    • Parm's Review:
    These Dutch death / grinders are probably the most under-appreciated band in the genre for their time. Yeah, yeah I know they’ve still released albums over the past few years, but the REAL Sinister began with their first album Cross the Styx (1992) and ended with Bastard Saints (1997 EP). After Mike van Mastrigt (vocals) left in 1997, it just wasn’t the same. Normally the departure of a vocalist isn’t as big of a deal as your main songwriter / guitarist leaving, but Sinister are the exact opposite. Ron van de Polder left after the incredible Cross the Styx and was replaced by Bart van Wallenberg, who in turn produced one of the best death metal albums of all time in Diabolical Summoning.

    Sinister play a brand of death metal that strays the line between death and grind, yet it is always controlled and precise. The riffing is fast, furious and memorable. Songs never deteriorate into the mind numbing atypical blast beats of your garden-variety grindcore band. I've heard people refer to the band as "technical death" but don't confuse technical proficiency with "techno death" (something this not). The time changes on this album are what really make it for me. Besides the fact every song is littered with catchy riffs, their ability to stop on a dime and change into another blazing riff just as memorable - pure genius. Their style is definitely European in nature but with an early Cannibal Corpse (Eaten Back to Life) influence. Let’s make no bones about it, this blows away anything Cannibal Corpse has done, as the shear ferocity has been matched by few and stands up to anything put out this millennium.

    Mike van Mastrigt is still my favorite death metal vocalist of all time. When you think of what a vocalist in the genre SHOULD sound like, this it is: ferocious, intelligible and downright evil, a perfect complement to the aural frenzy going on around him. A lot of death metal albums haven’t stood the test of time, but Diabolical Summoning sounds as fresh and powerful as the first day I heard it 12 years ago. It was my all time favorite album in 1993 and still is in 2005, which is a huge feat unto itself.
    5 out of 5

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