Oh man. On first encounters, there’s so much going for this record, it’s ridiculous – some fantastic Paolo Girardi cover art; a thunderous, enveloping production; referencing some of Germany’s finest black metal exports such as Lunar Aurora and Ruins of Beverast; an immediately commanding performance from vocalist Olli (demonstrating both power and versatility); it’s an impressive package. And then you notice the band name. Mightiest.
Sigh.
To be fair to them, the five-piece originally formed in 1994(!) and it has taken them over two decades to finally unleash their debut opus so perhaps this is a legacy of more naïve, youthful times (or less developed English language skills) – still, it’s unarguably an awful band name and whilst it sounds shallow to dwell on it, I’m afraid it does undermine to a degree some of the hard work the band have put into crafting this long-gestated debut.
The reason I’m labouring the point is that hard work has clearly been put into this album and Sinisterra’s six tracks of intricate, strident black metal deserve to be taken seriously – more seriously than their ridiculous moniker implies. The musical performances are certainly impressive – sawing lead guitar lines and a relentless battery of drumming underpinning the whole affair – yet it is the breadth of songwriting that impresses the most.
Comparisons with Lunar Aurora are actually not far off in the sprawling, spidery nature of the song structures, though Mightiest present a meatier, less high-pitched proposition. Much of this comes from the throat of Olli – in the main, his gargling roar brings to mind Funeral Mist’s Arioch at his most barbaric, high praise indeed. It lends stentorian, demonic command to bruising tracks such as ‘Devour the Sun’ and ‘Soular Eclipse’, cavernous vocals echoing across a landscape of battering black metal. Put simply, there’s a lot of low-end power here.
Of all the songs, it’s the album title track that really captivates the attention – here, Olli switches to a sonorous clean vocal, ushering in an epic that ebbs and flows compellingly over its 10 minute running length. The spidery lead riffs that scour across the song’s central refrain are the highlight of the whole record to these ears, at once melodic yet unpredictable, constantly shifting.
The album is no one-track pony however – there are plenty of other pleasing details throughout Sinisterra such as the tidal force of ebb and flow lending a driving momentum to ‘Oceanic Empires’ or the juddering stop-start riffs of ‘Animalevolence’.
All in all, this is an impressive piece of work – wide in scope yet with a telling cohesion between the songs that ties everything together into an immersive, towering whole. Don’t let that band name put you off – give Mightiest a chance, this album may well surprise you.
(8.5/10 Frank Allain)
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