A Vision of Misery

1992 could be described as a year that was much weaker compared to what appeared in extreme music in 1991 and 1993. In fact...but there were also some exceptions that this date could not be clearly written off! An example is the just discussed "A Vision Of Misery". The Americans from Sadus decided to go in - as I put it nicely - puzzling thrash metal with deathy additions, and at the same time achieved an extremely high level straight from the more famous vintages (by the way, it was quite an attainment considering that thrash metal was losing interest). So, Darren Travis' band clearly showed that in that "unfortunate" 1992 classics were also recorded.

Compared to "Illusions" and "Swallowed In Black", "A Vision Of Misery" is definitely more technical and allows more moderate paces, though not worse or not very aggressive. First of all, there are even more twisted patterns and sudden transitions in the music of Sadus (moving even more into Atheist and similar regions) and climatic slowdowns. Fortunately, these "novelties" did not supersede the earlier extreme ideas and very sensibly diversified the characteristic Sadus speed. Just take a closer look at the compact and razor-sharp "Slave To Misery", "Under The Knife", "Throwing Away The Day" or "Valley Of Dry Bones", which also feature changes in dynamics and craziness of bass (with a nice, more metallic sound). The opposition to these short shots are the longer "Facelift", "Echoes Of Forever" and "Machines", in which the band does a slightly dehumanized atmosphere (sometimes with samples - reminiscent of Sepultura from the times of "Arise") and sensibly gains momentum to faster paces. The rest of the pluses should also be added to a more "fleshy" production, in terms of which "A Vision..." presents itself even more powerful than its predecessors. I am surprised only by one thing, i.e. Steve DiGiorgio's mini-solo on "Echoes Of Forever", which sounds hilarious and does not match the character of the track (album, in fact, too). Apart from this small nuance, however, "A Vision Of Misery" has all the requirements of a feisty thrash/death metal with excellent proportions between technique and high-speed paces.

After "Illusions" and "Swallowed In Black", the Americans from Sadus decided to develop the more technical patents there in a more advanced form on "A Vision Of Misery". This movement, however, did not come into softening or an abandoning the earlier style. These four Americans knew perfectly well how to add a sophisticated technique to extreme thrash/death and how not to overdo both of these elements. They "only" lacked more determination to complete this wholeness.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

This album comes close to being really great.

The punchiness of this album’s tone is reminiscent of the Florida sound, but is a bit crispier and not as scooped (lacking in mid-range crunch). We have a thrashing mixture of The Ten Commandments, Considered Dead, and Reign in Blood, with a riff-salad structure similar to contemporary albums like Unquestionable Presence. The riff-salad approach, where riffs are constantly shuffled and played for varying numbers of measures, can be both a strength and a hindrance. In this case, it really is both. The natural evolution of thrash and death metal into a technical direction is only natural, stemming from a desire to continue creating original and unique material with more potential variation. The problem is, certain atmospheres rely on specific sounding riffs which, although unholy metal is considered to be in the chromatic scale (all notes), do tend to follow certain scales and patterns. This creates the paradox where more variation actually seems to create more staleness. In this case, the quality of the riffs and drums themselves carry the album despite the occasional drift towards staleness.

It was never a question that the musicians in Sadus were legitimate technicians. Where they display wisdom is in applying their technicality in a way to serve the underlying progress of the riffing. There is plenty of shredding, but it is strategically placed between ample chunks of time where the rhythm guitar is able to breathe and properly migrate the feel of the song. The drums cycle through all the classic thrash beats, but there are some other strong grooving beats throughout this album that are less typical. I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys hammered this out in a live take, it is clear they are well practiced machines.

Years ago, I had no concept of distinguishing harsh vocals from screaming. This difference became apparent as I listened to more unholy music from the full spectrum of the genre history. My dislike of literal screaming is what harms this album most for me; in particular, layered screaming, where it sounds like one vocal track fades while another comes right back in to scream again (Bathory’s Under the Sign… suffers from this, as well). Harsh vocals exist because clean melodic vocals would often clash with sour, distortion soaked riffing. They provide rhythmic accent and give a possessed human element. Screaming, however, is not the voice of a possessed human as are certain harsh vocals, but is a sound made by an actual emotional human. Used sparingly it can have its place, but overall it distracts from the spirit of the metal and can become obnoxious. I would have loved to hear the punchy deathrash riffs on this album accented with crossover or barked thrash type vocals, traditional death growl with less screaming, or even just the non-screamed style that is used throughout these songs (see closing track “Echoes of Forever” for some killer vocals). Screaming just seems like a lack of creativity in harsh vocals, even if done with skill.

The vocals make this an album that I can only listen to when I know no one else is in earshot. The good thing is that there are a lot of instrumental passages where riffwork and tight drumming hold it down with no soloing instruments or vocals. This dominance of rhythmic passages is the essence of pure thrash and death metal and sets them apart from many melody-instrument dominated genres. The riffing is definitely great, and although the riffs don’t get stuck in your head (they may after many more listens, of course), the album overall sticks in your head and calls you to listen several times. The only musical complaint I can think of besides the potential for staleness is that the drums don’t seem to be getting smashed hard enough (there is such concentration on rhythmic tightness). Other than that, if you go for jazzy-leaning old school death and real thrash with crisp sound and do not mind repeated screaming, this album could potentially be a favorite for you. Give it a shot if you like Ripping Corpse’s Dreaming with the Dead and Assorted Heap’s The Experience of Horror.

I clearly remember what impression the brutal barrage on “Illusions” produced on me some time in 1989; I guess I wasn’t prepared for this kind of extremity although I did like other examples of near-death thrashy experiences like Exumer’s “Rising from the Sea” and Messiah’s “Hymns to Abramelin”. It’s just that another one added to the fore wasn’t such a big deal in the late-80’s, especially when playing brutally had almost become a norm. The other norm, however, the one where technicality and progression mattered more, seemed to hold more fascination for me, but apparently Sadus were not going to be a part of it…

consequently, I wasn’t very keen on checking out any of their future endeavours, and it was when “Elements of Anger” somehow came into my possession in 1997 that I recalled the Steve DiGiorgio gang. As I liked the “Elements” a lot, since it was one of the more successful adaptations made by 80’s heroes to the new tastes, I decided to lend an ear to the previous two instalments I had missed. Needless to add, I was very pleasantly surprised by what I heard. So “Swallowed in Black” was already a handsome technical affair seeing the guys having chosen the thrash metal path to follow with death metal standing guard here and there. On the album reviewed here the latter has more prominent presence having elevated itself to the rank of “a co-worker” rather than “an assistant”, to astonishing results.

“A Vision of Misery” is rather "a vision of greatness”; it’s the culmination of the US technical/progressive thrash/death metal hybrid that started in the late-80’s, and brought some of the most shining moments on the American metal scene like Vacant Grave’s “Life or Death”, Hellwitch’s “Syzygial Miscreancy”, Atheist’s “Piece of Time”, Revenant’s “Prophecies of a Dying World”, and Incubus’ “Beyond the Unknown”. No wonder after its release this particular blend faded away in the next two years; there wasn’t much more to be done within its scope. DiGiorgio’s involvement with Death may have prompted the shift in style as the Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.) team also boarded the technical/progressive freighter around the same time.

It has to be noted the band members’ unique sense of unity; there have only been four musicians involved in the Sadus roster ever since the band’s inception: DiGiorgio, the guitar player and vocalist Darren Travis, the drummer Jon Allen, and the guitarist Rob Moore who dropped out after this album’s release. It doesn’t take too many musicians to concoct something like that; it only takes a few dedicated individuals with the right skills and vision, definitely not of misery. And here they are, the Four Horsemen of the thrash/death metal apocalypse, riding for the third time which was a most evocative proof of the “third time’s the charm” postulate. “Through the Eyes of Greed” is a wild ride the guys death/thrashing with passion before the intricate riff-patterns start piling up helped by the vicious overpowering bass and the stylish leads; the speedy cannonade is intercepted by clever progressive build-ups which still let it be the dominant voice here. “Valley of Dry Bones” doesn’t let up, and moshes far’n wide the frenetic technical embellishments reaching virtuoso proportions towards the end. At this stage the energy from the previous two efforts is almost intact, and the listener can only be happy with the added complexities which become more prominent on “Machines” with brilliant technical strokes arriving in quick succession, tying knots that are less decipherable than the ones on Death’s “Human” even (the title could be a reference to “Suicide Machine”?); fast-paced escapades are certainly provided, but not in such abundance as the intricate riff-formulas prevail making this piece one of the finest exponents of technical thrash/death metal ever, the swirling rhythm-section recalling pillars like Coroner and Deathrow.

“Slaves to Misery” is a choppy nervy mid-pacer with more dazzling technicality served amidst heavy steam-rolling guitars and sudden more aggressive deathy strides, with Travis pitching it to hellish, hysterical heights racing with the wild roller-coaster accumulations. “Throwing Away the Day” crushes left and right the guys shredding with consummate precision the obligatory speedy dashes disrupting the elaborate puzzles, the resultant symbiosis close to pure chaos due to the frequent, unheralded change of pace. No complains whatsoever as this is a most delightful piece of serious, multifarious metal which goes progressive on “Facelift”, a dramatic atmospheric composition with a covert doomy vibe that gets dissipated by more dynamic additives which keep the bass pretty busy, and also the guitarists in the second half where a supreme vortex of super-technical riffs gets stirred to everyone’s amazement, before a faster-paced sweep wraps it on. “Deceptive Perceptions” flirts with more atmospheric drama initially, and the delivery remains within the mid-paced confines until a brutal dash turns this cut into a furious thrashing melee ala Invocator and Baphomet. “Under the Knife” is a logical continuation of the previous hurricane with a more accentuated deathy edge and loads of supreme complications those even going beyond the two mentioned acts before the marginally more orthodox inauguration of the final “Echoes of Forever” puts an end to this most compelling madness; expect more outstanding virtuoso showdown with a hectic alternation of times and tempos the leads making a really fine showing duelling with the striking riffage for domination, the bass also stealing a few precious moments of playing time to leave an even more memorable trace on this absolute no-brainer alongside a great quiet exit.

DiGiorgio and Co. nailed it here; nailed it to such an extent that it became redundant to play technical thrash/death on US soil, and also around the world, after this masterpiece. All those bands who did try to do that eventually were inevitably compared to this opus here, like Vicious Circle (“Cryptic Void”, 1993), Decision D (“Moratoria”), Canker (“Physical”, 1994), Droys (“And If…”, 1998), etc. Some similarities between it and the Death recordings with DiGiorgio can be detected, but to these ears the guys here have surpassed the other team in terms of mazey arrangements and technical riff-density as again the names of Deathrow (“Deception Ignored”) and Coroner (“Mental Vortex”) should be thrown in as examples of how such elaborate, multi-layered music can be done right with the album reviewed here standing proud right next to them. There isn’t a lot of aggression sacrificed from the previous instalments like some reviews and feedbacks have tried to point out; in fact, the most brutal moments can easily rival most of the material from “Illusions” as they have been applied with an eye on the death metal audience. And yet, the technical/progressive thrash fans will make sense out of this saga for most of the time as they’ll be totally absorbed in the supreme rifforamas and the surreal time and tempo shifts for which they will need more than just one listen in order to appreciate them fully.

It was a cycle closed for the band as there was literally nowhere next to conquer after it. Besides, the times were hardly ripe for more classic technical thrash exploits; the numetal vogues demanded sacrifices, stirring waves of anger within the old school brotherhood until five years later when our friends were back with the aptly-titled “Elements of Anger”, a modern thrash masterpiece that was quite a different animal from the album here, focusing on more labyrinthine, more meandering ways of execution with less flashy fretwork. The modern trends had taken their toll, but there was nothing even close to annoying groovy banality as the band had found the right way again to entertain the masses by sounding both relevant and loyal to their roots. Alas, there was no immediate follow-up as the Sadus team packed it up for a second time.

Although the main reason for the gigantic gap between the band’s last two instalments was DiGiorgio’s very busy schedule getting involved with half the metal constellation, one may blame the others for not pricking him more insistently for more regular Sadus appearances. With just five albums for a period of nearly 30 years, the guys shouldn’t have pondered over their status as “a side dish” rather than “a main course”. On top of that on “Out for Blood” they decided to pay tribute to the 90’s vogues in the midst of the resurrection campaign thus condemning themselves to more indefinite stretches of oblivion almost instantly. This last coming was a pretty decent modern technical thrash affair coming close at times to the calculated precision of its predecessor, but sadly failed to respond to the demands of the more fastidious 00’s audience.

And that was it; the last stop from the Sadus train, the once glorious creators of “A Vision of Misery”; a vision that compelled them to reach the top of the metal Olympus, and one that kept the train rolling and rattling unfazed through anger, hiatuses, and many other illusory impediments.

It's a rare exception when an album refuses to be a product of its time, and while Sadus' 3rd opus "A Vision Of Misery" is quite an enthralling affair, it is not quite something that can be labeled unique, in contrast to their riveting debut and sophomore efforts. Some might attribute to a general trend in death metal away from its high speed thrash roots (thrash metal itself was being stripped of such influences in even more rapid succession), or more specifically to Steve DiGiorgio's stint with Death on "Human", but the move away from traditional Slayer influences as typified in Death's progression from "Scream Bloody Gore" to "Individual Thought Patterns" is on similar display with this album with respect to past offerings, though perhaps not quite as far removed as the former.

To put it bluntly, this album literally sounds like "Human" would have sounded had Sadus recorded it in 1991 instead of Schuldiner and his cohorts. Similar displays of rapid, technical riffing over a slightly more restrained tempo with shorter, controlled bursts of mayhem are the order of the day, complete with the obligatory time meter switches that any John Petrucci fanatic is sure to lap up. Take for example the instrumental breaks on "Machines" which rather unscrupulously mirror the mechanical sounding guitar harmonies heard throughout "Human", more particularly on the Sci-Fi inspired closing songs "Cosmic Sea" and "Vacant Planets", and contrast primarily through a greater amount of bass gymnastics to complement the predictable cacophony of lead guitar passages. Vocalist Darren Travis also does a fairly decent job of avoiding sounding too much like Schuldiner and keeps his voice on the upper range of the shouting spectrum, sounding more maniacal and berserk than guttural and dark.

There is definitely a healthy assortment of high octane brilliance to remind of the largely passed glory of the Bay Area scene of years past. Several key passages of "Through The Eyes Of Greed" and "Slaves To Misery" really play up the chaotic factor, though doing so in a much more rhythmically asymmetrical fashion than the typical fit of Slayer worship. Yet at the same time, the sheer amount of riff activity and systematic avoidance of outright repetition (a common feature of technical bands of any stripe) makes a lot of the shorter songs seem much longer than they actually are. "Throwing Away The Day" literally manages to mash in more than half a dozen contrasting sections into a song that doesn't even break the 4 minute mark, complete with enough auspicious bass work to make Les Claypool blush. Ironically the lone exceptions to the rule of continual contrast are the long songs in "Facelift" and "Echoes Of Forever", both of which take time to play up creepy quiet sections either at their offset or closing that again seem to be drawing influence from the more atmospheric side of "Human".

This is pretty far removed from a traditional death/thrash affair, but then again, Sadus has never really had a very conventional approach to compelling the ruination of spinal columns. By the same token, it definitely shares in the basic trend of death metal with a lot of tinkering around the edges, though not quite crossing into the realm of outright bizarre experimentation after that of Cynic's "Focus". It lacks the raw nastiness of "Illusions (Chemical Exposure)" and the riff frenzied Bay Area-infused assault of "Swallowed In Black", but it retains a sufficient level of old style charm to keep the band's early era target audience in the loop.

To this day, Sadus remains one of the most underrated American thrash metal bands in history. However through the course of their career, they released a slew of pioneering and innovative albums that were far ahead of their time. Though the vast majority of metalheads claim that bands like metallica, megadeth, and slayer were the ultimate representation of the thrash metal genre, as well as it's chief innovators, bands like Sadus were far more advanced, not only in terms of musicianship, but in talent, and versatility as well, as their Transition from Raw, unrestrained death-thrash, to Technical Death Metal/Thrash clearly shows.

Before reviewing the album, first i would like to speak about the progress of the band up to this point. In a fashion very similar indeed to early metallica, and Death, Sadus, was becoming more complex, more sophisticated and more progressive with each album, although far more drastic in comparison to the other bands mentioned. Starting out with a very raw sounding debut, that was anything but restrained, Sadus showed clear signs of improvement with their next album, Swallowed In Black. The band started to incorporate more technical riffs, and more complex time signatures into their music, without loosing any of their ferocity. With their well-known bass god Steve Digiorgio, Sadus stuck out from the pact, with thundering lead guitar-like fretless bass lines, and almost incomprehensible complexity, Sadus caught the attention of Chuck Shuldiner (R.I.P), who later recruited Steve to record Death's Human album. Impressed by his performace, Chuck would use Steve once again. With the experience Steve gained from recording Human, with long-time Sadus supporter Chuck Schuldiner, and the rest of the Sadudes pursuing an even more complex direction than their previous album, it was clear that their next album would be their most ambitious, most advanced, and arguably, their creative peak.

1992 would see the release of Sadus's third full-length album, A Vision of Misery. Released in a year when many long-time thrash metal bands were trading thrash for groove, and originality for mainstream appeal, Sadus was getting more complex, more ambitious, and more mature, without moving away from their roots as a Death/Thrash band, although this release would be more death metal oriented than anything they released before or since. With a new since of inspiration and velocity and better equipment, Sadus entered the studio to record this monumental achievement for both Death, and Thrash metal.

Compared to all of their previous works, their third album boasts the best production the band ever had, which only helps enhance the bands sound, and gave them a clarity that previous albums lacked. This is Cleary displayed in the blistering opener, through the eyes of greed, which obviously shows the use of better recording techniques and equipment, which allows the nearly flawless performance of the band to fully audible. As I stated earlier, the maturity of the band is strikingly evident, as all of the compositions on the album show better musicianship, and more variety. Take for instance the first song, which starts out like a typical Sadus track, and then slows down, into a chugging, ultra technical riff fest further enhanced with very prominent bass licks from Steve. Gone is the reckless, "full speed ahead" style of illusions. Instead, the band focuses on being more elaborate. Every song is full of time changes, and stays away from conventional songs structures. Songs like Valley Of Dry Bones, are among the most epic Death Metal songs ever recorded, with a ferocity that bands such as Morbid Angel could only attempt to match, and a intricacy and complexity that Megadeth could only dream of composing. What i like more is the bizarre sound effects used many of the albums songs, such as the "factory noise" in Machines. Better still is the prog tendencies of each song, which keeps the music from being one-dimensional, and makes the music more interesting. The band can go from extremely fast to slow and back again without warning, and at the drop of a hat. Every song should satisfy fans of every style, from straight forward brutality, to complex and technical. A Vision of Misery displays the full range of Sadus's capabilities as a band.

In addition, Sadus also seems to have matured lyrically as well, in a similar way to death. Instead of merely crushing the weak (in your face), bad acid trips (illusions), and killing posers (torture), the band focuses more on political and personal issues, picking of from where Swallowed in Black left off. Take for instance facelift, which speaks of the poverty and discrimination, and through the eyes of greed, which is self-explanatory. This is in sharp contrast to others, such as slayer, who still relied on topics like Satanism, and demons in they’re lyrics. Sadus were more about provoking thought, instead of rather immature displays of rage.

As we all know (hopefully), Steve Digiorgio is the man when it comes to the bass, and his performance on a vision of misery does not disappoint. In fact, on this album, he is even more prevalent than before, and occasionally begins songs on the album with bass lines that become the basis for the entire song. He plays his bass as if it is a third guitar for the band, and on many occasions, it seems as if the band's two guitarist Darren Travis, and Rob Moore, are following Steve's lead. Steve really shows what he's made of here, and any fans of his bass playing shouldn’t miss this album.

John Allen, the drummer of the band has also shown some clear improvement, with ever more complex drumming patterns and an increased use of double-bass. Still he more Straight forward side is still present, in songs like Valley of Dry Bones, and Under The Knife, one of which featuring two very intense blast-beats. He proves that he can easily compete with drummers such as Gene Holgan, or Pete Sandoval.

Darren Travis, also steps up quite a bit as a vocalist. On this album he recorded some of his most brutal vocals yet, while still being very listenable. Instead of his earlier high-pitched shrieking style, Darren starts to incorporate death growls, similar (although more extreme) to that of evil Chuck. His ability to compose extremely technical guitar riffs is also displayed, with many of them sounding similar to Death, Pestilence, and Gorguts. Probably the best example of the is the closing riffs of Through the eyes of Greed, which is an amazing feat in it's own right. For the Second guitarist, Rob Moore, I believe this was his apex in writing solos. His style was very unique, and as ambitious as the album, with experimental sounding leads, and solos, such as the Egyptian sound solo on Machines.

In the 1991-1992 period, which saw Half-Thrash, and groove metal albums, this was a very unique and much needed addition to the now stagnating thrash scene, and far superior to most releases at the time. This album was without a doubt, the most sophisticated Sadus album, as well as one of the most technical Death/Thrash metal albums of all time. Sadly, like all of their work, it was too far ahead of times, and underappreciated. Sadus was responsible for some of the most technical and intricate compositions in metal, and this album displays them at the full potential, although I still prefer the youthful aggression of their previous works. The Spartan musicianship shown on this album proves why they were much more sophisticated, and more capable than many of their peers. Although their influence has been shown in many technical death metal bands, including Death, Sadus remains largely undiscovered by many fans of both Death and Thrash metal. It is bands like this that were the true pioneers of thrash, and helped it evolve and transition into death metal.

Sadus is the kind of band that never fails at amaze me. There are lots of reasons, like their techincal hability, the exciting nature of their music, the sheer catchiness that manages to keep the listener wondering "Damn, what's coming now"?

"A Vision of Misery" shows the band's progress in a direction I didn't like, which culminated at "Elements of Anger". This is the border between their older style and the newer one, more midpaced and with more emphasis on techinique. The midpaced moments are more prevalent here than in "Chemical Exposure" or even "Swallowed in Black".

Their hability to write some of the greatest riffs ever is intact. The riffs here are of two kinds: The slower, more complex riffs where their techinical side is shown. These riffs are interesting for the most part, except where they seem to drag a bit (for example, "Facelift" clocking at 7 minutes). The other variety is that one with the burning fast DM riffs, which are simpler but very effective at giving catchiness to the songs. For example, at 2:21 of the fourth track. This riff is as banal as "Outbreak of Evil" but extremely efficient. Of course they know that a full display of complex riffs detracts from the entretaining value of the album, so they throw some great breaks, cool drumming patterns and fills and some nice solos. The song structures are also pretty nice, staying ayaw from verse-chorus-verse. The musicians seem to understand each other very well, so it's not hard for them to write songs like "Slave to Misery" and "Through the Eyes of Greed".

The instruments are all great togheter, although Steve's bass isn't nearly as prevalent as in the previous album. But whenever he shows up, his talent is glaring. The drumming has mostly the same style of extremely fast snare-bass drum patterns, double-bass and some shot fills. Pretty damn good, if you ask me. There are much less blastbeats than "Chemical Exposure", if any.

It's maybe the last essential Sadus album. The next one, it's hard for me to say, is pretty boring. Go get this one now, no matter how hard is to find an out-of-print album.