CoC : Sinister - Creative Killings : Review

Sinister - _Creative Killings_
(Hammerheart, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay (7.5 out of 10)

Is having a female death metal vocalist a novelty? Hell no. Is having one as good as Rachel? Shit yea! Sinister has obviously had an overabundance of lead growlers, but Rachel (former Occult) does a marvelous job of moving this band forward in ways never though possible. "Storm in My Mind" is an illustration of this band at its finest; the song captures all that is harsh and blistering in Sinister's domain of damnation. The raw power discharged from _Creative Killings_ is nearly incomprehensible. I will say this, despite Rachel's peculiar charm figured into Sinister's sound, these shepherds of death metal have many sheep of the same flock in their heard. What I mean to say is if you liked _Aggressive Measures_ [CoC #37], you'll take to this one like ducks to water. If you favored, say, _Bastard Saints_ [CoC #14], _CK_ might be a wee tougher of a sell. "Judicious Murder" is nearly far and away my favorite on _Creative Killings_ with all its well-timed power beats of profanation. Not everything about this twelve year old band is superseded by its tenure; the vocal approach is new (and nearly impossible to differentiate from any of the greats on the scene) and even tough Sinister's style remains predictably discordant, songs like "Reviving the Dead" take the this band's prospect for bigger and better things to levels unthought of in recent history. To borrow a word from their title -- this newest Sinister is truly a very creative undertaking.

[Paul Schwarz: "I have, at one point or another, owned every full-length Sinister album. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's a fact. _Creative Killings_ is the only Sinister album currently in my possession, but that's not 'cause I like it anymore than I liked the others. Sinister have delivered another Sinister album: that's about as much as I can tell you. It sounds about as good as anything they ever did, to me, and if my copy wasn't a promo it would have been taken back to the store it came from weeks ago."]

(article published 14/1/2002)

CHATS
14/1/2002	A Bromley	Sinister: Creative Brutality Unleashed
16/3/1997	S Hoeltzel	Sinister: Across the Styx and Back

ALBUMS
17/9/2008	J Smit	6.5	Sinister - The Silent Howling
17/2/2006	J Smit	8	Sinister - Afterburner
27/6/2003	X Hoose	7	Sinister - Savage or Grace
13/2/1999	P Schwarz	7	Sinister - Aggressive Measures
11/10/1996	A Wasylyk	7	Sinister - Bastard Saints
2/9/1995	G Filicetti	7	Sinister - Hate

GIGS
13/5/2001	M Noll	Marduk / Mortician / Vader / God Dethroned / Amon Amarth / Mystic Circle / Sinister / ...And Oceans / Bal Sagoth	Baptized by Fire and Beer