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intothewellsabyss
Nov 9, 20223 min read

Sinister - Diabolical Summoning (1993)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…



On November 9, 1993, Dutch Death Metallers Sinister released their second full-length studio album Diabolical Summoning via Nuclear Blast.


The album was recorded at TNT Studios, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and was co-produced by Sinister.



Overview:

In 1993, Sinister released the follow up to their well received debut Cross the Styx. The overall experience of the release was a Death Metal monstrosity that, in some way failed to gain the recognition that Diabolical Summoning so deserved.


With so many bands in the realm of Death Metal, it is invigorating to find a band that offers up something out of the norm. And, Sinister have always been a band to do just that. Don’t misunderstand me, there is no doubt that they are a Death Metal band, but they go far beyond just mere Death Metallers. Take guitar player Andre Tolhuizen for instance! His guitar riffs are enough to give you a good head bashing, but he is also known to drop a few melodic runs here and there, ie; the title track "Diabolical Summoning" or the very compelling "Mystical Illusions." Other times, he will give you a brutal head-crusher like "Leviathan" or the opening track "Sadistic Intent." Overall, “Diabolical Summoning” is a headbanging, fist-pumping good time. For me, it’s mandatory listening if you are a true fan of Death Metal! If my words aren’t enough to convince you to listen to the album…  just read this review from Death Metal Underground!



Critical Reception:

The review at deathmetal.org states;

“After their legenday first album, Sinister improved instrumental precision, and feeling thus liberated assaulted their listeners with an album of reasonably technical riffs tied together by a hookish melody in the style associated with bands such as Gorefest, Dismember and early Gorguts. While these songs are sparse in the gestalt that might unify their driving rhythm riffs and the "old world" style peripatetic melodies to which they are joined with the support infrastructure, this album has its peaks of beauty and power that find compare nowhere else in death metal.
While these songs often seem too sparse in their constructive affinity the essential tendencies in songbuilding are beating under the thick skin with a passionate heart, even if the end product like later Gorefest often ends up disassociated in its joining of complex cyclic themes. Vocals are iron-tough and levelled at the listener directly with a gravely dead monotone. Percussion remains adept but vigorously underscores key points of phrase almost too directly, including the rushing percussive riff barrages that are reminiscent of Malevolent Creation.
Of all Death Metal in the second wave, this album and Gorefest remained unique for their dedication to well-structured, orderly, rhythmically hookish but not offbeat-marionette phrases which used neo-baroque melodies in power chords and tremolo-picked lead rhythm riffing. This contributes an otherworldly air to a band that too often tries to throw in interstitial extremity as a means of competing with the death metal field at the time. Taken as a whole, this album was a wise transition between Cross the Styx and the more discretely compact compositions of Hate.”


The album was reissued in 1997 in a barebones digipak with Cross the Styx on 1 disc. A music video was made for the song Leviathan.


The album was reissued by Metal Mind Productions on July 6, 2009 and digitally remastered using 24-bit process on a golden disc limited edition to 2000 numerated copies in a digipak with the bonus tracks.



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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