Swallowed in Black

After such a devastating longplay as "Illusions", the Americans from Sadus did not throw up their hands in fear that they had exhausted the topic and 2 years later they hit with a continuation of the technical thrash/death metal majesty from their debut in the form of the second longplay entitled "Swallowed In Black". However, this succeeded because the "Swallowed..." kept the heaviness of the debut and showed that Darren Travis's band had an intention to expand earlier ideas. Even if the effect was half a point lower than the "Illusions" - a spoiler of my premature rating.

The quartet from California kept the degree of aggression from "Illusions" here, and at the same time developed this wilderness with a few more complex fragments, even crazier bass of Steve DiGiorgio, fleshy production and a little more emphasis on the death metal elements (even though there was no blasting). So the first fiddle here is still thrash metal. Well, this is in both fast (sic!) and simple shots like "In Your Face" or "Last Abide", but also in those longer songs like "Arise", "Images", "The Wake", "Oracle Of Obmission" or "Good Rid'nz", which can reach meaningfully over 4 minutes. The aforementioned couple of "more complex fragments" also work great, where the band slows down a bit, and as a compensation they exhibit excellent technical bends, with emphasis of DiGiorgio (something that will later come to Death, and in the meantime also appeared at Atheist and Cynic). Apart from that, Darren's "squeaky" vocals, hitty riffs, fast drums playing, guitar solos and general aggression bursting at every step do not disappoint either. All of this elements are perfectly maintained to the regions from the debut, and at the same time, they do not give the impression that you are dealing with a laborious duplication of previous patterns. Actually, the only minor (and somewhat forcefully pointed out here) downside is the "Swallowed..." content...is a bit too abundantly compared to the debut! After all, the second album of Sadus is 14 minutes longer than the "Illusions", and I bet that if they narrowed it down to those 35 minutes, this album would kill as discreetly as "Illusions" (from the remaining minutes they could easily make bonuses). Except that, this is still a general exaggeration defect.

Two years after the excellent "Illusions", Americans from Sadus managed to repeat the success of that album. Well, on their second lp, Darren Travis' group created music as strong as on their debut, and at the same time very inventive, but arranged a bit differently.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2022/07/sadus-swallowed-in-black-1990.html

When anger turns to black… yeah, our heroes toned it down, but just a bit, for the album reviewed here. They didn’t embrace the death metal idea whole-heartedly, contrary to the expectations, and gave their uncompromising death/thrashy hybrid a really nice technical colouring. No, the black didn’t swallow them as Travis timely put an end to his communications with Oystein Aarseth aka Euronymous (R.I.P.) before his team managed to turn to one of the pioneers of the already stirring at the time in Norway second wave of black metal…

kidding of course; such a scenario never existed, and black here is just a colour connotation, and probably an allusion to the musicians’ state of mind as, regardless of the hyper-active delivery witnessed for a large portion of the time, there’s this dark morose vibe that can be detected without too much strain on the side of the listener. If said listener comes from the the debut worship camp, he/she should have no problems savouring this opus here as the hyper-active skeleton of the first showing has been preserved, albeit enhanced with much more stylish, more intricate guitar work. It’s a sheer wonder to listen to the previously served “illusions” spiced with the more exuberant, more technical riff-patterns.

The hectic nervy rhythms enrapture the fan from the get-go the latter also smitten by the very speedy delivery “Man Infestation” sounding like a twisted, heightened mutation from the previous offering with Harris shouting in an even more demented fashion; the authoritative bass inclusions of DiGiorgio are by all means worth mentioning early since they occupy quite a bit of space without overshadowing the insane shredding of his comrades the latter brought to an early culmination on the short frenetic delight “Last Abide”. “False Incarnation” creates a “false” impression of safety from the incessant downpour with its creepy macabre, much slower layout, a really effective stopover from the thrilling ride which becomes even less predictable on the brilliant serpentine, also alluringly melodic “Images”, and especially on “Arise”, a grand more ambitious showdown the guys altering the pace in a quick dizzying succession with elaborate riff-knots winding and unwinding under the rampant hyper-active leitmotifs, the doomy closure a fine more officiant way to wrap on this early highlight from the technical death/thrash roster.

In fact, almost every single track here could be viewed a highlight including these short, but ultimately compelling technicallers (“Powers of Hate”, “Oracle of Obmission”) which prick your consciousness in a more insistent, more neurotic manner bringing the death/thrash wedlock on a higher pedestal, boding images, definitely not illusions, of an everlasting bond between those two. Again, listening to this more complex but equally exhausting opus one can only marvel at the guys’ skill in generating nearly the same amount of extremity as the one from the debut, staying true to their initially chosen stance by giving it a desirable, more technical veneer.

As much as I want to ascribe this recording enormous pioneering merits, I can’t possibly ignore the contribution of other gifted practitioners (Hellwitch, Atheist, Vacant Grave, Revenant, Nocturnus, Hexx, etc.) who all emerged at the same time, determined to bring thrash and death metal to an arguably better, more intellectually-stimulating place. Apart from the mentioned Hexx, Sadus were the only other team from this batch who achieved technical/progressive illusion… sorry, illumination during a post-debut period; in other words, this process was a more or less gradual one in their camp, and logically continued after this album, unlike the majority of their mentioned colleagues who burst out just this once (at the time), filling the one-album-wonder department to the brim. “A Vision of Misery” was already a crowning achievement, the peak of all those early strives for technical/progressive death/thrash greatness on US soil, DiGiorgio bringing the band’s creative flair to the Death camp as well during his collaborations with Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.). Contamination with grooves and other aggro elements was inevitable if a practitioner wanted to stay afloat during the 90’s, but “Elements of Anger” remains one of the more successful adaptation albums from this dark period, the band deftly translating their visions for the new generation.

Those updated visions were still alive some ten years later when their last so far instalment “Out for Blood” came out. It split the band’s fans into small warring factions with its compromising shared-among-a-few-currents delivery, a not very expected turn of events under the 00’s old school revival circumstances which didn’t exactly win them too many new fans. The Sadus saga is ongoing, that’s for sure; whether with entangled, mind-challenging rifforamas or with direct blitzkrieg crash courses, our friends in misery will carry on until all the colours of the rainbow fade to…

that’s right.

1990 was one of the best years for metal, with classics such as Rust in peace, Seasons in The Abyss, Within Suffering, and numerous others. It's a shame that Sadus's Swallowed in Black, an album of extreme complexity, and a colossal achievement in the Death/Thrash genre, was hardly noticed upon the time of its release. This is undoubtedly Sadus's masterpiece. More aggressive, more death metal oriented, and more technical than the debut. Although they did become even more sophisticated with their third album, it seems to lack the focus, and energy that makes this album so unique. This album was a huge improvement from the debut, being very technical, and boasting top notch musicianship. Some of the songs are progressive in nature, and the bands has an increased emphasis on incorporating technical death metal riffs in their music. In fact, it would not be far fetched to consider this an early death metal album.

While SIB is certainly not as straight forward as Illusion, their explosive debut, it still has a fair amount of intense songs that could easily put earlier material to rest. Black, for instance expands upon what Certain Death started, being more extreme, with a very haunting intro, that sounds like a bunch of demons chanting in the pits of hell; the perfect way to start an album of this kind. The atmospheric build-up to the second track, the cleverly named Man-Infestation, show Sadus new found ability to write epic compositions, and very intelligent thought provoking lyrics. Instead of talking about demons, serial killers, Satan, and other inmature, unrealistic topics, Sadus instead Have lyrics that concern everyday life in general, as well as politics. While the song start out slow, it explodes into a fury of aggression that makes even slayer sound tame in comparison. In addition, Songs like In Your Face show the band's unsurpassed aggression.

Other than speed, what really makes this album sick out from the bunch is its technicality, which is shown in virtually ever track on the album. Each riff is very concise and complex and very from hyper-fast tremolo riffing- to very challenging chords, which is where the band's talent is really shown. Songs like False Incarnation, and Good Rid'nz are a perfect example of this, with very complex time signatures, and unorthodox song structures, that bands like Megadeth would find hard to pull off. Probably the best example of Sadus's technical abilities is the epic song Arise, with numerous tempo changes, and mind boggling riffs at a Metallica-like song length of over 6 minutes in length. All these elements prove why Sadus was much more competent as musicians than any of the big four, providing far more advanced compositions, and complexity, although a bit less accessible.

Sadus is a band that is very well known for their bassist, Steve DiGiorgio, and while he's not the only reason why this band is great, he certainly does stand out from the other musicians because of the pummeling roar of his fretless bass, which demonstrates the mastery of throughout the album. Take for instance, the technical bass intro in the song Images, or the very audible, and roaring bass licks on the opener, Black. He sometimes play just as fast as the rest of the band, or independently, making the music more interesting.

The drummer, John Allen, who would later play for Testament is absolutely outstanding on this album, ranging from pure speed to a mid-paced groove, with complex drum patters, and a few blast-beats. He has ability to change speed at the drop of a hat, and has diverse drumming techniques only prove this more. Unlike on the first album, when the drummers only played at one tempo (fast), John shows what he's made of, with a multitude of speed, and patterns, best displayed on tracks like Powers Of Hate, starting off like an Exodus song, then changing into a rampaging Death/Thrash hybrid with ultra aggressive drumming. In addition, the drums are very crisp and clear sounding, much in part to the fact that the production was far superior to the debut. Higly recomended for those who want to hear the very orgins of technical death metal.

(originally written by me on http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/37015/Sadus-Swallowed-in-Black/)

Sadus is best known for the exposure of shred bassist Steve DiGiorgio to the metal cosmos, but the band itself has produced some exciting material both in their early years and the occasional new efforts they release. Swallowed in Black was their brutal and frenetic sophomore album, and while it wasn't their most technical material, it's remained my favorite. Here the band walked the wild side of brusing Bay Area thrash, a blistering chokehold of suffocating speed, crisp guitars interplaying with DiGiorgio's clean yet prevalent bass tone.

"Black" leads the way with hyperventilating guitars and the despotic sneers of guitarist Darren Travis. Musically you can hear a little Slayer in the guitars, but the riffs are windier, a labyrinth of violent impulse. The chorus breakdown is just mean sounding in this track. "Man Infestation" misleads with some ambient tones while a slow, doomy picking serves as the undercurrent below some brutal vocals that continue to elevate over a slow fire until the band just kicks out the frenzy. "Last Abide" is another of the band's breakneck paced spitting thrash tracks, often manifesting the feel of Destruction's faster technical side. "The Wake" opens with a volley of great descending thrash riffs, while DiGiorgio plays. "In Your Face" is one of those extremely short track staples that plagued many a thrash album of the 80s. The riffs are exciting enough that I would have liked another minute or so of the song. Among Swallowed in Black's other strong tracks are the thrash juggernaut "Powers of Hate" and the furious "Arise" (the latter reminds me of what Kreator was doing this year with their masterpiece Coma of Souls.)

The album never struck me as having the best production values, but with this recent listen my opinion has shifted somewhat. The clean bass tones, crisp crunching guitars and live feel of the drums hold up fairly well, unobtrusive and possibly planned this way in advance. There are no fancy effects here, it's just a plug in and play speed/thrash metal album with an added flair for brutality. Though formed some years earlier, Sadus gained their momentum at the turn of the decade, when death metal was beginning to steal the spotlight from thrash. DiGiorgio and crew managed to fit snugly into both mediums, and Swallowed in Black was a worthy effort. It may lack truly memorable riffing, but the cruel vocals and boundless energy somewhat compensate.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Sadus was a band that I overlooked back in the day as being sound alike thrashers with little variation in the brutality. Now, as I give them another try, with a more mature outlook upon such juvenalia, I must say..........this shit rules!!!!

There is a deft mix of technicality and fierce attack. The structure is pure thrash, but the ferocity, recalling Kreator and Devastation in shrillness, pushes it towards death metal category. Saving this from a complete generic blur in the fret board agility of the guitar section. They mosh it up in places, can go from slow to lightening at the drop of a hat, and do all the required heroics, but it is the swift, dissonant riffery that truly kills. But most impressive is the rhythm section, especially the devilish bass work of Steve DiGiorgio. Standing out in the mix, unusual for metal, the bass adds a jazz fuckery, ambiguous in it's evil intentions, and in no way detracting from the slicing and dicing. Skinsman John Adams keeps up nicely. The shrill, witchy vocals of guitarist Darren Travis, doing double here, adds a nice rhythmic counter point, though gets repetitive at times.

Lyrically, this is standard thrash ranting. There is much fretting about environmental decay, much nihilistic venting, none too inventive, perfectly garbled, written to provide rhythmic counterpoint. Those looking for sensitive poetic subtlety (or sick gore) must look elsewhere.

Over all, a fine technical metal album that does not call attention to it's shredding, instead focusing on pure ferocity, straddling both death and thrash camps, but with a unique sound that owns.

Techinique is something that can really hamper some band’s progress. Yeah, I know this is an oxymoron, but work with me. I’m talking about the “wank” facet of techinical ability. The kind that makes boring music, just to showcase the musical capability of the people. The kind that composes 14 minute+ songs, the kind that makes you fucking yawn.

Sadus are very techinical. Listening to this album, you can see that all musicans know their instruments exceptionally well, as you can tell by the amazing interplay shown in various parts of the album. But the thing is, you’ll find no wanking here. This is a scary display of pure agression, which shows that intensity can go well with techinque.

The most obvious character about Sadus music here is the speed obsession. Although it’s not 100% fast as Chemical Exposure, the fast riffs and drumming are all over the place. Sometimes they reach a chaotic level of sonic agression (Powers of Hate at 2:43) and yes, this is good. Why? Because it makes the music exciting and you wanting more, although 44 minutes of mayhem are good enough.

The musical hability is glaring. The thrash breaks abound in various speeds, the different riffs, the drummer’s dexterity when complementing the amazing riffs, the extremely fast soloing that still manages to remain interesting, unlike “cat in a blender” (you know who you are) and the bass. The production also helps, it’s very clear, and all the instruments are perfectly balanced. The rhythm guitar sounds great, and so does the double bass drums.

*starts fellating Steve diGiorgio*
The bass deserves its own section. It’s played by none other that Steve diGiorgio. I think Sadus is the band where he truly belongs. His playing at Testament’s The Gathering was overshadowed by the over loud guitars (it’s a shame we lost the chance to see James Murphy and Steve togheter) In Sadus, he has all the highlight he needs. In the first track, there are great bass licks. Good Rid’nz at 3:11 shows how to complement an already great riff. The bass is more prevalent at the slower sections, but there are also fast bass parts.
*stops fellating Steve*

You can hear some great ensemble interplay here. The greatest example of that is “Black” from 4:23 to 4:55. Damn, those guys are togheter a long time (the rhythm guitarist had never player to another band in his entire life, just Sadus), and of course, they understand each other very well. 1:10 at “The Wake” also showcase this “chemistry”.

The drummer is one little octopus on speed. He plays fast and precise, with some great fills to complement the riffs and those little pauses before the solos, a la Dark Angel, speaking of which, has their insane speed matched by this guy! The fills aren’t as long and as frequent as those by Proscriptor, but this does not mean that much.

The vocals are on the thrash side, with some screams and no growling at all. It sounds pretty crazy. Too bad there aren’t lots of cool vocal lines.

Any song here is a highlight, but “Good Rid’nz”, “Arise” and of course “Black” take the cake. The obligatory 1 minute grenade is here (In your Face) and the “squeeze one million of good riffs and solos in a 2 minutes song” (Last Abide). There’s also plenty death metal riffs scattered all around the album, as shown by “False Incarnation”. So much variation and uncanny catchiness. You better believe it.

Go listen to it, this is surely better than “Chemical Exposure”, and it DOES deserve more attention than it gets. Hell, at least, listen to “Black”, one of the better thrash songs ever written. Be aware that it’s out of print, so if you see this on some used CD store, grab it!