ALBUM REVIEW: Sangue Cássia – Sinistro
Following up from their well-praised album, Semente, SINISTRO are back with Sangue Cássia. The Portuguese doom quintet have a unique ambience to their sound, creating elegant soundscapes and bringing an element of softness to the table, their latest release raises the bar in that.
Kicking off the album is the stunning Cosmos Controle, immediately it sets the mood for the rest of what’s to come. It feels melancholy, but the vocals of Patrícia Andrade build up an ethereal ambience, it almost feels ghostly.
Hitting Pétalas and Abismo the harshness and intensity grows, and the while the energy is still very ambient it tinges the album with a dramatic contrast of feeling. The growth in the band’s sound since Semente is outstanding, on 2016’s release they truly found their style but on tracks like Pétalas and Abismo in particular it really highlights the maturity they’ve put in. It feels like SINISTRO have discovered who they are and are really fine-tuning everything on this album.
Nuvem and Gardenia are exciting to say the least, they create a very delicate soundscape between calm and devastation. Like the others, there’s a drama to the sound, the harshness works with the elegance with a brilliant balance and once again it is down to the vocals of Patrícia Andrade. Her voice is overwhelming in terms of how something so delicate can produce so much power and these two tracks prove just how much power she has. Even when the music becomes heavier it does not drown out her voice and for that balance to be so right is a challenging task but SINISTRO have nailed it on the head.
Closing the album is Cravo Carne and it’s the perfect finale to the journey that the quintet have been on. By far it is one of the most powerful tracks that has been presented, it’s absolutely crushing, and despite Sangue Cássia being a more atmospheric album than a straight up doom one it highlights all the components from the genre, in just a very unique way.
Without a doubt, SINISTRO have harnessed their sound and have really become experienced at their own talents. When Semente was released it was thought that it was the best SINISTRO had ever been and it was top of the game for them, but Sangue Cássia has blown it out of the water. They’ve refined their sound even further and used the knowledge they’ve gained over the past couple of years to carry on being the best they can be. Everything from the vocals to the music is absolutely beautiful, a brilliant way to kick of 2018.
Rating: 8/10
Sangue Cássia is out now via Season of Mist.
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