Crust

Among Sadist's varied discography, this record always stands out to me as the highlight. To me, it's the most thematically unified, sonically consistent, and generally intriguing. Granted, it's weird. It's certainly strayed from death metal, focusing on groovy riffs and atmosphere rather than brutality or technicality. No blast beats and hardly any thrash beats. Fewer progressive elements than the two albums that came before. So what does Crust have to offer?

Death metal is often musical commentary on violence that results in literal mutilation and death. But in this case, it's very clear by the tracks' titles that this album zeroes in on sexual violence, resulting in psychological mutilation and spiritual death. It dives into the psyche of unchecked, unfeeling male impulses. The product is a lifeless, industrial hellscape that enslaves both the progenitor and the victim. Even the album art is an abstract portrayal of penetration, which cleverly matches the industrial aesthetic that's very prevalent from start to finish.

Now, it's hard to say what exactly Sadist was trying to communicate, as often is the case when the lyrics aren't written in the band's primary language. However, it lands on me as mutual destruction, even to perpetrator, as he thrusts himself into further confusion—further into "the world I dream" (opening line of Perversion Lust Orgasm). His humanity is completely gone by the end of the album, metamorphed into a killing machine. He has denied his personhood, succumbing to violent desire and committing psychological suicide.

What does this sound like? Crust brought far more keyboard than Tribe or Above The Light, but subtly. Rather than the bursts of riffs we've observed in the past, they soar over the guitar lines almost continually. Oftentimes, they're strings or flutes, but you'll also hear cyber-esque synths, typical in genres like aggrotech. Unlike before, the keys shouldn't be considered another leading voice like an additional guitar. Instead, it weaves itself more into the background, coalescing atmosphere and the pumping guitar tracks into a single entity. Makes sense since Tommy Talamanca does both (even at the same time, which baffles me). For the guitars, they're anything but the unremarkable chugs that much symphonic metal cranks out. They stand on their own, still driving most of the music. We do camp more on the lower strings this time around, but there's real dissonant fretwork, bizarrely accented rhythms, and solos throughout. In the moments when they take a back seat, they hand the reins to the keys and bass, ebbing and flowing. Without the synths, we'd miss a dimension that guitars and bass alone can't communicate. Then the instrumental tracks and keyboard breaks remind me of the Akira soundtrack: It carries both a dystopian spirit as well as a something meditative. It's a fascinating juxtaposition with the album's theme.

I believe a common complaint is the drums. They are minimal compared to the past, which is the kind of thing that drives my drummer friends insane—especially hearing this from a band that's capable of progressive rhythmic feats. You just don't hear that in this album. And honestly, considering the atmosphere, it feels weird to expect it. I understand why people would feel miffed by that. Did Sadist become lazy? It feels more focused than lazy to me, making the previous two records seem more ADHD than this ultra-concentrated work.

Now to my favorite part: The bass is far more separated from the guitar than the keys; it's really fascinating. It's mixed in such a way that the rapid finger-work sounds like alien chattering. It's nasty! While the progressive elements are fewer, they're still here, and the bass carries almost all of them. A particularly amazing moment is the jazzy solo in the middle of Obsession-Compulsion, but this album is less about moments and more about the whole. Just listen to the bass, and you'll be quite amazed.

The vocals are also more consistent, as Trevor Nadir performs them from this point onward. You get a mix of raspy shrieks and lower growls, which brings great dynamic. Most harsh vocalists tend to have one favored tone, but he performs both rather exceptionally, and I find that rare. Even some unhinged screaming and whining at times, which might put off some listeners, but he does that sparingly, so I think it works. You can tell he's less experienced than in future work, but the vocals drop in and bring the dirt regardless.

The things that make this album less than perfect is the lack of low-end in the production. If the kicks had *just* a little more thump, it would smash so much harder (whoops, a little pun there). And compared to their other studio albums, this one sounds strangely quiet, so I turn the speakers up one notch more. Not a terrible issue.

To sum it up, every part of the band works so closely with the other instruments, handing off the leads back and forth. It's difficult to even choose specific tracks as highlights as they all bring something distinct to the record as a whole. This album is strong in subtlety, groove, and atmosphere while tumbling forward relentlessly—an atypical combination within death metal. I don't believe brutality serves the topic. After all, sexual violence can be invisible, carried within the soul. One could see your face and never know the death you've tasted.

The moderate success of "Tribe" and the break of the line-up made it necessary to introduce changes. To keep Sadist alive, Tommy Talamanca brought Andy Marchini back to the band, and found newer successors in the guise of Trevor Nadir (vocals) and Oinos (drums). This line-up, in 1997 - that is very quickly after the previous album - recorded "Crust"...one of the strangest albums in Sadist's discography. And the strangest reason is that despite the original assumptions, i.e. making the music different, but more accessible and "for people", the band decided to leave in a not-so-digestible hotchpotch.

Unfortunately, in the case of "Crust", there was no imagination for novelties. In many places, the old technique has been replaced by riffing close to groove metal (or even industrial) - heavily cut and dehumanized. Well, it means that the music has become much less colorful, and thus, deprived of any greater multidimensionality. Let the confirmation itself be the fact that the longplay is best perceived where...it refers to its predecessor - rather rarely. Next, I am not entirely convinced by the atmosphere of the disc (schizo-digital), Trevor's vocals (especially the groaned one), sound (illegible - completely unsuited to progressive playing); in a short: majority. "Obsession-Complusion", "The Path", "Holy..." (the style of the previous album sounds the strongest here) or "'Fools' And Dolts" seem nice, but that's roughly it. Seriously, only 4 kind of "nice" songs! - which is a joke compared to the previous albums. In the others, yes, there occur (keyword) some unusual and original patents, but - unfortunately - there is no sense and the former ease in them. Traditionally, Tommy's solos and Andy's bass make a great impression, but these elements, out of spite, don't get as much space as they should have.

An unambiguous assessment of "Crust" is therefore quite problematic. Because, in principle, it's listened to quite well and with interest (especially in the first half), on the other side, this lp has absolutely no approach to its predecessors and weakens in too many moments. It's also evident that changes outside the prog-death stylistics rarely come into anything meaningful in Sadist discography. "Crust" is one of the more emphatic examples.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/11/sadist-crust-1997.html

My first exposure to Sadist was through “Tribes” some time in 1996, and I instantly fell in love with this multi-layered progressive death metal fiesta. There was one thing that I considered an unmitigated setback, though: the lush use of keyboards which stifled at times the clinical technical riffage, making the album sound like one big gothic melodramatic symphony at times. Everyone likes gothic melodrama, there’s absolutely no second opinion about it, but I tried to imagine how such an approach would sound like if the keyboards were reduced by a few notches...

And I didn’t have to strain my imagination too much as the album reviewed here became a fact just a year later. If “Tribes” was beaming with optimistic youthful enthusiasm largely thanks to the uplifting keyboard sweeps, this recording is a most bleak, claustrophobic, nihilistic one, the cleverer, more proficiently executed analogue, from an emotional perspective, to the second wave of black metal that was already past its zenith at the time. And yet it’s an absolutely compulsive listen, a masterpiece of amorphous, multifarious metal which simply wasn’t fair anymore to be labelled as just “death”. This is actually the first genuine extreme progressive metal opus in the annals of music. It’s amazing at the time to hear how quickly the band had outgrown their death metal roots, if they ever had any in the first place provided that the debut was pretty much a thrash-fixated “Anacrusis meets Coroner” riff-fest. And it’s back to the roots to some extent on the opening “Perversion Lust Orgasm” which unnerving staccato riffs sound like the mutated, modernized version of Coroner’s “Divine Step” from “Mental Vortex”; haunting keyboards are inevitably inserted at some stage although it’s the jarring macabre guitar work that does the major damage carving deep incurable burrows in the listener’s brain. Agonizing, tortured clean semi-recitals help Trevor Nadir’s hellish Kelly Shaefer-esque rasps to deepen the already dense oppressing atmosphere. “The Path” adds more stylish thrashisms ala the mentioned Swiss masters again, the initially instilled dynamics gradually dissipated into surreal doomy landscapes, both sides alternating the whole time to a disorienting dramatic effect.

“Fools & Dolts” gives full freedom to the keyboards for a start, and the mazey meandering riffage later perfectly fits the melodious configurations which encounter quiet atmospheric interludes along the way and a nervy scratching, bass-dominated rhythm-section taken straight from Atheist’s “Elements”. “Holy…” would be either a most pleasant surprise, or downright repulsion being a strictly keyboard-infused, all-instrumental “opera” to these ears a thoroughly mesmerizing respite which “Tribes” featured aplenty. It only lasts for about 4-min so there shouldn’t be too many disgruntled fans, especially after the following “Overiotomy” is such an arresting twisted extravaganza the sterile, mathematical riffs preparing the audience for a possible futuristic Meshuggah-esque showdown; but no, this is a much more energetic, also melodic, listen containing the most orthodox section on the album as well. Completely unpredictable stuff which goes further down the rabbit hole with the echoing tribal drums on “Instinct” which later transforms into a surreal accumulation of creepy operatic atmospherics that occupy a healthy portion from this number which eventually returns to the clever technical death/thrash carnival the latter carrying on in all its splendour on “Obsession-Compulsion”, a spacey hallucinogenic “nightmare” the smattering clinical riff applications alternating with serene dreamy sceneries in the best tradition of Aftermath’s “Eyes of Tomorrow”.

The title-track is a meditative instrumental which would serve as a needed tool for relaxation also coming with a much more philanthropic aura. “I Rape You” possesses one of the most memorable “riffs vs. keyboards” beginning in metal history, an instantly recognizable signature which leads to a heavy modern rifforama spiced by unobtrusive bass burps; awesome technical thrashing follows suit the keyboards from the beginning returning at every opportunity to sustain the beautifully sinister atmosphere which gets another precise intricate riffy “baptism” in the second half as a finale. “Christmas Beat” may sound like a goofy joke piece title-wise, and the tantalizing keyboard-driven introduction may indeed bring Santa Claus and the dwarves at your door even on a scorching summer day; not for long, though, as the cold dispassionate rhythm-section tears all Christmas presents to shreds not without the help of a brilliant more intense section which would make even Mekong Delta and Target proud; the charming keyboard variations return at the end, but to no avail... there will be no presents for Christmas this time; just oppressive, gloomy, sombre beats of an excruciatingly “sadistic” nature.

If it’s not for the characteristic use of the keyboards and partially for the raspy sardonic vocals, one may have problems recognizing the good old Sadist behind these schizophrenic apocalyptic landscapes. The more expressive, riff-driven delivery sides it more readily with the debut than with its immediate “tribal” predecessor although the more modern guitar work steers the album towards other “shores” where classic thrash/death heroisms may not be the audience’s first choice. Still, there were absolutely no hints whatsoever at this “Lego” that was assembled on the next instalment, and that took the band away from anything they had composed previously. Not a single Sadist album had sounded like the previous one, but no one ever envisaged such a drastic change, especially with the coming of the old school back in vogue at the time.

Whether the aforementioned “Lego” was a career suicide is debatable, but the guys did take a time off to rethink the new situation now that it wasn’t fashionable anymore to chase swiftly evaporating numetal glories at the dawn of the new millennium. It took them seven whole years to come up with a solution, and it came in the form of the self-titled opus. The title was already an indication of the band’s intention on going back to what they could do better than anyone, creating encompassing progressive vistas, that is, and this was exactly the case. This was also their first full-blooded death metal opus, and a milestone in the genre at that. Two more strong efforts followed suit the band finally establishing themselves on the forefront of the metal world in Italy, and also worldwide, going strong in the new millennium also leading other talents (Karnak, Will’o’Wisp founded by former Sadist members) “marching” behind them; acts who have based much of their discographies on these “sadistic” trajectories.

Still, this rusty… sorry, crusty piece of art in their discography remains unsurpassed; it sticks like a sore thumb amongst the friendlier, warmer approach epitomized on the rest, standing as a testimony that an artist is able to outdo him/herself when “painting” with more depressive, darker shades. Because it is out of creative negativism that the finest pieces of art have been created, and this oppressing, claustrophobic, immaculately crafted “jewel” can only be one of the most undisputable proofs to this uncarved in stone rule.