In the Death Metal world, one of the bands many fans are all able to agree on is Sinister, a group that hails from the Netherlands and formed back in 1988. Prior to their debut recording, Cross the Styx, the band issued a number of various other recordings, including two EPs, two demos, and a split release. However, it took a good eight full-lengths and additional EP, spanning upwards of eighteen years, before a label were to gather all the original source material of the band prior to their debut full-length and reissue it for the masses who weren't fortunate enough to get on at the group floor. Enter The Blood Path, a compilation release issued through Goregiastic Records. This nineteen song compilation collects every track from those early five releases, and makes them available to the underground once more.
The Blood Path features material from the first five Sinister releases, as well as a bonus track taken off a 1992 Nuclear Blast Records sampler that happened to include three other bands. For fans of Sinister, this release becomes an important piece of history to have in their collection if they can't find the original pressing anywhere, and some of these are pretty hard to find today. The compilation does it's job well of keeping all of the releases together without doing what many labels would do and have the tracks scattered about out of order on the CD, as in one track from one release, then another from release two, another from release five, one from release three, and so on, you get the idea. However, the one main flaw to this compilation is that the material here, while in the right track order, is not in a proper chronological order. The tracks start with the band's second release, Putrefying Remains / Spiritual Immolation EP, then the Sinister EP which was the fifth release, followed by their Perpetual Damnation demo from 1990, which was their first ever band release, then the Sinister / Monastary split, which was their third, followed by their fourth release, which was the Sacramental Carnage demo, before concluding with their sixth release prior to their first full-length, "Corridors to the Abyss", which was off an unrecognized four way split sampler from Nuclear Blast Records.
Of course, in this day and age, it doesn't necessarily become much of a problem when things are out of order, as it can be corrected and slapped on a CD-R for the dedicated fan who wants to hear the progression with the band from start to end. But, in this case, there doesn't necessarily seem to be much of a progression outside of better recording quality. Much of the material here shows the same intensity and hard hitting Death Metal side of Sinister that appeared on their full-length Cross the Styx, just in a slightly lower production quality for that time. For example, this compilation starts with the Putrefying Remains / Spiritual Immolation EP, or atleast it claims to, and it has a more raw and lighter sounding quality to the two songs that start this recording then the three tracks that follow. "Compulsory Resignation", "Spiritual Immolation", and "Putrefying Remains" make up the next release on this compulation, the Sinister 7" EP, which actually has a nicer studio quality that finds the bass amplified to really drive the material. Of course, the differences between both versions of "Putrefying Remains" and "Spiritual Immolation" are pretty much nonexistent outside the recording quality. Both version are spectacular, though the tracks from the Sinister EP sound much stronger and richer compared to the lower quality split tracks that start the compilation.
The only other gripe about this release, though really there's absolutely no fault to this CD or the label for this, is that the band recorded the same tracks on practically every release, so it becomes understandable why there were five different releases from the band, not including the bonus track from their donation to the split sampler mentioned above. So, yes, you'll think you're hearing the same songs over and over, and actually be right! "Putrefying Remains" and "Spiritual Immolation" start off this compilation, and they appear on every release the band put out before and after that EP, leaving "Putrefying Remains" and "Spiritual Immolation" on almost all of the recordings, only being left off the Sinister / Monastary split release. The only release here to feature new material that isn't repeated on other releases from the band are "Sacramental Carnage", "Epoch of Denial" and "Lacivious Desolation", all three making up the original tracks on their 1991 demo Sacramental Carnage, with the last four off that demo being re-recorded versions of the entire 1990 Perpetual Damnation demo, which only housed "Perpetual Damnation" as a new song at that time as well.
But, as confusing as this release comes off thanks to the lack of proper chronological order, and the band essentially going into the studio every time they had a new song, then re-recording their entire back catalogue of songs, it's still a greatly enjoyable piece of the band's history. There's technically only eight actual songs on here, branched out from 1990-1992 through various recordings to give the compilation a time span of nineteen tracks. But, while that may seem a little boring, it's actually not. While many are the same songs, it's interesting to hear them in the various way they were recorded, despite the lack in major composition differences. If you're just a casual fan of the band, being able to hear these recordings in the first place may not seem like the most interesting thing to do, but to hear the huge difference between "Spiritual Immolation" on the band's split EP that starts this comp against the better sounding, more well produced version on the Sinister EP shortly after, then hearing the differences to them and how each production quality gives the tracks a life of their own, leaving them to all to sound different from it, one being better then the other, is enough of a reason to check this release out in the first place, especially when you compare these songs to any future recordings they happen to be part of.
Of course, that's not all. Sadly, the biggest screw up comes from the track listing. The first two tracks printed on this edition are listed as "Putrefying Remains" and "Spiritual Immolation", taken off that 7" split that is named after those two tracks. However, that's not the case, as the songs are (in the proper order) "Compulsory Resignation" and "Perpetual Damnation". So, which two tracks are the right ones from the 7" EP? This is actually never really specified, but one would assume those tracks are actually tracks six and seven, but, again, it's not clear which is which, so sometimes it's unclear as to what the proper chronological order on here is outside the corrected tracks and the outlined track listing from the CD itself. This becomes a huge problem for the OCD collector, and just proves the point that all of these tracks should have just been kept in proper chronological order in the first place.
But, aside all that, how does the music stack up? Well, if you're a Sinister fan, you essentially know what you're getting, and it's impossible to judge the production of this release since it has six different production qualities to them in the first place. Outside of that, you also have the slight physical appearance changes to the songs. "Putrefying Remains" off the Perpetual Damnation demo (the band's first release) genuinely does sound different thanks to a strong emphasis on bass int he recording, a brief bass bridge, and an audio sample that acts as an intro to the song, which doesn't appear on any other future versions of the song. The production quality of the Perpetual Damnation demo is actually pretty bad, and sadly for this compilation it's not that great either, as you can hear some of the physical wear and tear that existed on the cassette and, sadly, was copied when digitally transfered to this compilation, and it does hurt the overall quality of the recording, but it's something that couldn't be helped as deterioration of cassette tape is going to happen, but it also acts as positive reinforcement for vinyl, as the 7" vinyl recordings on here lack these little detereiorating glitches.
Out of all the material on here, the band's first demo shows Sinister in their rawest form. Tracks six through nine really take on plenty of then-stereotypical ideas for Death Metal, having usually pounding music that hammers away at the listener with great speed, a vocal range that pretty much sticks to one gutteral level, and for the time it was something that would work out given that Death Metal was still kind of in it's infancy and being explored. It's an enjoyable piece with low production, and sounds quite different and remarkable compared to some of the later material from the band on this recording. But, again, it's all primarily due to the production quality that it sounds so different, having a very raw trait to it from a quality that wasn't top of the line, recorded onto cassette, being very bass driven, but still sounding rather open, relying mostly on echo effects on the vocals and deeper sounding guitars to fill the gap and attempt to make the material sound rich. Essentially, it sounds like what one would expect from an early nineties demo recording. If it weren't so hollow sounding, it'd be fantastic, as it does capture a lot of the raw traits that made Death Metal of that time so menacing and addicting. Of course, the tracks from the 1991 Demo recordng Sacramental Carnage is perhaps the strongest off the entire recording, having a much stronger recording quality that really pushes each instrument forward, as well as the vocals, without having to rely on one element or another to make the music sound richer.
The Blood Path makes for a fantastic piece to the rabic Sinister fan's collection. On top of having all the earlier pre-debut full-length material available in one spot, as well as making the song "Corridors to the Abyss" available once more, though the bass on the song is significantly high and becomes one of the worst sounding tracks available on this release thanks to all the static from that and the general recording itself, it's just great to be able to sit back and hear how this band went from a name in a sea of rising Death Metal stars, to a name that is known by many who appreciate the style. While it's not really something the casual fan will enjoy as much due to the band having recorded many of the same songs over, there's no reason the die-hard fan of the band should pass this up. The only complaint that those people will have is the chronological order, which winds up being the biggest problem next to some of the deteriation issues on the tracks from the Perpetual Damnation 1990 demo, which sadly is bound to happen. Even if you can't look past those issues, it's still a necessary piece of the band's discography for any fan of the band to own, especially if they don't own all six of the releases these tracks come from.
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