“The Last Howling”, is the title of the 8th album of the Dutch death metallers Sinister, and it is their first release by Massacre Records. The album’s genre is typical death metal, with 7 compositions of an average of 6 minutes each.

An exception is “The Silent Howling”, a 10 minutes’ song, which is the best of the album, with some beautiful melodic passages in guitars and many changes. Another interesting song is the first album’s track: “Republic of the Grave”, which starts in a very dynamic way.

Furthermore, I can’t really say that I find any special interest to the rest of the album’s songs, since they all follow the same path without any special features. Truth is that Sinister’s genre is not my cup of tea, especially their vocal style which reminds me a lot of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. They definitely have their goods moments, especially in guitars, but the general outcome does not maintain the listener’s interest for a long time.

Comparing it to their previous album, “Afterburner”, which was released in 2006, which personally I found very monotonous, this album has made a progress as far as the compositions and the music are concerned. The songs this time have a much better structure and ideas.There are a few melodic elements here and there which reduce at some point the monotonous blasting death sound and some atmospheric and mid tempo passages at the bridges, without altering the band’s genre. I believe their fans will be satisfied, as the particular release seems to be their most inspired and well prepared so far.