Sinistro is the second Portuguese outfit to hit my inbox in the past couple weeks, but they are two very different entities. Unlike Miss Lava, Sinistro is actually female-fronted, and their influences lean more heavily towards Neurosis than Kyuss.
They also seem to sing in their mother tongue, judging by the song titles. Semente, their second album, kicks off with the heavy, doomy downstrokes of “Partida,” which is pretty punishing right from the get-go. By contrast, the vocals are cooing, and almost soothing above this heavy riff barrage, though things do mellow out somewhat as they go along.
“Estrada” is mellower and more vocal-driven, although it’s still underpinned by some slow ‘n crunchy guitars. A very ISISy riff kicks in just past the three-minute mark. “Corpo Presente” keeps the same sinister guitar tones, while adding some orchestral instrumentation to the mix. Things get softer on subsequent tracks, with a loud/soft dynamic mixed into eight-minute epic “Reliquia.” In comparison, 11-minute album-closer “Fragmento” seems to drag on a bit too long, without AS much variation in tempo or intensity… but when the heavy riffs finally hit just shy of four minutes, they’re just as impactful as ever.
