UMUR "The Sins of Mankind" is the 3rd full-length studio album by UK death metal act Cancer. The album was released through Vinyl Solution/Restless Records in June 1993. Cancer had made a name for themselves with their first two albums, but they weren´t exactly counted among the elite death metal acts back in the early nineties. It was probably a combination of various things, but ultimately the music on the first couple of albums is just fairly standard death metal with old school thrash metal traits, that didn´t stand out enough from the pack.

The music on "The Sins of Mankind" is still death metal but the thrash metal traits are more dominant now probably making death/thrash a more accurate genre catagorization. Technically the musicians have taken a step up and especially the often simple and clumsy drumming by Carl Stokes, is now more precise and advanced. There are also some nice groove based riffing on the album in addition to the more "regular" death and thrash metal riffs. The vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist John Walker are one of the assets of the album. Snarling, aggressive and growling.

"The Sins of Mankind" might not as such be a revelation, but it´s an enjoyable release by Cancer. The sound production is powerful, the musicianship is decent, and the songwriting is on a good level too, so a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.