UMUR "Hate" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Sinister. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in July 1995. There´s been one lineup change since "Diabolical Summoning (1993)". Guitarist Andre Tolhuizen has left and bassist Bart van Wallenberg plays both guitars and bass on "Hate", making Sinister a three-piece on this recording.

Stylistically the music on "Hate" more or less continues down the same brutal and technically well played death metal path as Sinister also played on "Cross the Styx (1992)" and "Diabolical Summoning (1993)". It´s US acts like Cannibal Corpse, Deicide and Suffocation that come to mind. It´s brutal yet relatively sophisticated with tempo changes and skilled playing. A track like "Awaiting the Absu" also features an atmospheric section, but that´s only a minor elemens in the band´s sound, which predominantly relies on brutality. The high level musicianship is worth mentioning as a great asset too. Fast precision drumming, brutal and technically well played riffing, and brutal deep and relatively intelligible growling vocals.

The material are well written and effective but not that varied and it´s not all tracks that are equally memorable. Compared to the artists mentioned above it could also be argued that Sinister don´t have a signature sound, but rather play a death metal style where they "borrow" from their influences to sculp their sound. In other words they are not terribly original or distinct sounding.

The sound production is dark and meaty, suiting the music perfectly. "Hate" is overall a pretty great death metal release by Sinister and I was initially going to rate it with a 4 star (80%) rating, but the longer I got into the album, the less interesting and diverse it got, and while that´s not a big surprise when it comes to death metal as relatively brutal as the music on "Hate" is, it´s still a minor issue and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is therefore warranted.