Combining dual-generational points of view, different levels of experience and and effective co-mingling of broad interest in heavy music this debut full-length album from Elizabethtown, Kentucky-based melodic death-thrash metal quintet Sinistrum sports a uniquely stylized notion at the core of its attack though they’ve not entirely nailed down a wall-to-wall substantive experience beyond a novel approach at face value. Taken in as a debut with a bright set of ideas and plenty of promise ‘Infernal Dawn‘ isn’t hungered for domination so much as it appears endlessly curious in search of the points where death metal grooves and melodic metal might intersect and arrive upon a tuneful, convincing or captivating result. Some of their efforts attain this level of crossover revelry through iteration, mining a few surprising movements within somewhat standard songcraft, predictable arcs which might lack the precision detail those seeking classicist ideals upheld would expect. That said, they appear beyond well-prepared to carve the road beyond this starting point.

Sinistrum‘s efforts have been unusually harmonious thus far in the sense that they appear to present a format wherein cross-generational checks and balances ensure a certain quality and standard for their brand of mid-paced death metal infused with early 90’s thrash metal grooves and some modern melodic death metal expression. Part of this observation is just as well plainly heard upon approach and the rest comes per the suggestion that guitarist Garrett Netto is the main songwriter and his father Craig Netto, a founding member of Abominant, is their drummer. Their first demo tape (‘Trichotomy of Death‘, 2022) initially lead us down a path familiar to folks who recall the grime of the mid-to-late 90’s death metal bubble in the United States, not an unusual headspace for the current and former members of unsung Kentucky death metal band Abominant (who’d flirted with a Dissection-esque sound early on) which feature in the line-up but a potential loss-in-translation from the younger folks from Effigy and Fornicus who feature in the band otherwise. There was a kinda dry circa ’92 groove metal affliction to some of the riffs on “Deus Mortis” but that first CD made a decent case for melody, riffs, and thrashing movement as they’d presented three promising songs that were more-or-less structurally untouched in the walk-up to the full-length.

As any proper debut full-length should ‘Infernal Dawn‘ generally (well, eventually) makes good on the promise of its promotional demo within the somewhat unsteady, blended focus of its running order wherein the first impression is that of classic ex-thrasher death metal pulp before the veil drops and their focus turns to melodic death riffs as focal centerpiece for the majority of these ~4-5 minute pieces. In this sense opener/title track (“Infernal Dawn”) locks the mind into a simple groan and groove piece which suggests a painfully standard but solid enough death metal result before “Abomination Rising” cleans up with its late 80’s Morbid Angel built opening riff. Upon first listen I’d actually shut the album off as the ‘breakdown’ which leads the closure of that second song hit, having gotten enough of a first impression to take its priority down a peg or two right off the bat; Upon returning to the record I’d found it eventually opened up into its melodic charge just beyond that point with “Godforsaken and Bleeding” hinting at a bit of late 90’s Arghoslent style swing within certain movements though a hardcorish thrash downstroke dominated most of its movement otherwise. “Legacy in Barbarity” delivers on that thought with a bit of a prog-melodic death interjection at its mid-point and a solid harmonized guitar solo to square off the thought. At that point it began to finally feel like Sinistrum would deliver upon their demo CD a couple years beyond.

With the exception of “Morbid Reality”, which has its own memorable melodic reveal, in their midst the three songs from ‘Trichotomy of Death‘ (“Death Omen”, Deus Mortis”, “Malicious Imprisonment”) are fleshed out within the middle section of the full listen and for my own taste this is the substance and the gloria of the full listen as they balance thrashing-slow heft with dramatic heavy metal inspired melodicism. The only real issue I’d taken with this sea-change was that the opening moments on the album were seemingly in another realm, crafted in a different vision and did little to preface the real strength of the full listen. Within this clump of pieces we get to know the broader language of Sinistrum fairly well between fairly simple death metal grooves and mid-paced pieces and this familiarity perks the ear toward vocals from vocalist/engineer Scott Briggs (ex-Fornicus) who brings what I’d consider the typical USDM ’til USBM trade-off to these performances, a strong and clear death metal growl set beside exaggerative rasps which often rely on sustained and slow-rising rasps for effect, a sort of performative tic which distracts more often than it impresses. Their treatment of “Malicious Imprisonment” here only emphasizes the rift those two extremes create in shared diction but also does well to show all-sides of their stylistic reach.

Sinistrum‘ve put in the work toward a pro debut here, checking most all of the boxes here in terms of aesthetics with a fine cover artwork from Juanjo Castellano and a listening experience which is reasonably consistent in style, recorded to a sharp enough and eminently listenable standard. It should be clear enough that their songcraft is at its best, or, most comfortable point(s) of interest when crafting melodic death-leaning pieces with simpler rhythmic interest and this might not be all that remarkable for those seeking the eldest rhythmic standards for melodic death metal as there is little theatre available to this work. Though a doubled focus on quick-changing riffs in a solely early 90’s style would be my preference in every case, in taking the listening experience as is I’d found it a pretty reasonable starting point for their own take on various ratios of melodic death and groove-built death/thrash on ‘Infernal Dawn‘. A moderately high recommendation.

---