Illusions

Respected with huge cult among the most thrash metal fans, Sadus is one of the most influential thrash/death bands at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s., which, surprisingly, is not so much talked about. The start of this band dates back to 1985; then Darren Travis (guitar/vocals), Jon Allen (drums), Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and Rob Moore (second guitar) begin to take their first steps in creating extreme music and hit the very promising demos year after year, i.e. "D.T.P" (death to posers hehe) and "Certain Death". However, it soon turned out in 1988 that both tapes were just a foretaste of the fury that was then inherent in these Americans.

This is because on their debut "Illusions" it exploded with a vengeance. Suffice it to mention, as in the whole album, powerful are: riffs, Darren's vocals (with a better throat exploitation than Tom Araya or Mille Petrozza), drums (even with blasts in the second half of the disc), solos (necessarily with a lot of rowdy sounds), as well as fretless, bass Steve's madness (sometimes with mini-solos). Chaos as you look at it, but you also quickly notice that nothing is a matter of chance or playing "whatever works". With all this harum-scarum...none of the tracks, however, blend together and do not get boring for even a second! For this simple reason, I should mention "Torture", "Undead", "And Then You Die", "Twisted Face" or "Sadus Attack", but actually, all of them. Well, each of them is an equally decent thrash/death kick in the face and a pool of interesting ideas. Even an unnecessary outro in the form of "Chemical Exposure" is not something that disturbs the general, very enthusiastic reception of the disc. In fact, I would say that at the stage of this song, a listener can only bounce back to the rest after such a solid thrashing!

So "Illusions" is a real gem when it comes to technical thrash/death with no advantage of the first part over the other two genres. These four Americans on their debut album beautifully showed the essence of extreme, thrash with a pinch of technique, and at the same time, the upcoming death metal evolution in this music. And all this in 1988!

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2022/07/sadus-illusions-1988.html

Sadus's Illusions (or Chemical Exposure, if you will) is quite possibly one of the most brutal metal albums of all time. Now, there are a lot of different ways of brutality, like Demolition Hammer's Epidemic of Violence, Dark Angel's Leave Scars, Slayer's Reign in Blood, each thrash band added their own spin to what their attempt was to push the limits of this deranged and filthy genre of music. The aforementioned albums are both masterpieces, but this one might have done it. Objectively, even though this is not my favorite brutal thrash album, I have to admit, logically, these guys did it. These guys might have released the most over the top, most insane, most brutal, most extreme thrash album of all time. And they did it just masterfully.

As you can see, the title of the review is not the most proper way of starting a review, but that's all I remember from the opener to the album, "Certain Death". That song really sets the tone for what's coming with its SUPERSONIC pace, and just pure insane vocals. When you think they're about to take a break, the riff at 2:30 breaks through your speakers like an 18-wheeler would run through a car blockade at the speed of 95 MPH. The entire song is just pure thrash-death madness, but it still doesn't lack the creativity from the riffs. The song still doesn't become monotonous, even though playing notes at this speed is well, not easy let's put it that way.

The album as a whole, well, it's difficult to describe. It is quite possibly the most brutal, most chaotic, most mind-warping metal assault on one's eardrums that was ever initiated by mankind. The thing about other brutal albums like Reign in Blood, Epidemic of Violence, Leave Scars, Darkness Descends, and others, is that they are systematic. There is still "order" in those albums, there is a great deal of organization and just cleanliness when it comes to the drumming, timing, everything is well-calculated, etc. Well, not this. This album is very unique in the sense that it really isn't trying to be "proper". This is fucking PRIMAL, without attention to detail, without magnificent timing, without perfect sync, but guess what... No one cares. This album grabs the instinct animal of the listener, and doesn't let it go until the haunting final instrumental track of the disc. With its speed, its sheer intensity and bloodthirst, it already strangled the listener to death and back to life about 8 times by the third track, without having any chance to observe the timing or sync.

Let's take a look at the musicianship behind this absolute monster of a release. The axemen are Darren Travis (also on vocals), and Rob Moore. The guitar work is quite remarkable actually, because one would think that an album on speeds like this would not be able to remain interesting and colorful enough, I mean what can they come up with that'd be sufficient for the entire length of the CD? They will run out of riffs sometime in the middle of the album... Well, these two guys defied all odds, and made this record an absolute riff-factory, and they really thought outside of the box. Many times, the riffs enter very high parts of the fretboard and involve a lot of high notes. This is not conventional, but it works just absolutely magnificently. This adds to the brutality and horror of the record, and they had to turn to something resourceful if they were serious about this album. The solos are just plain insanity, sometimes it sounds like there are three different channels of just distorted chromatic yet somewhat half-intelligent madness, the sound they create very well communicates what it would feel like to get fired at by the enemy on the battlefields and run to hide behind something.

The drummer, Jon Allen... This guy is just out of this world, the tone of his drums are perfectly raw, and he presents a number of different patterns and paces throughout the record. His playing speaks of great creativity and musical skill. Steve DiGorgio needs no introduction, his unique and pitiless bass lines are an essential element to the penetrating power of this release. Without the deep, rumbling bass, this wouldn't be what it is. And then, of course, let's not forget the vocals. One of the reasons why I could never get into the depths of extreme music is the vocals. A ton of "vocalists" in the genre sound alike, though mainly in genres like brutal death metal, grindcore, and so on. Well, on this album, which certainly deserves to be called an "extreme" release, the vocals are unbelievable. I never heard anything like this before in my life, but I mean never. Listen to "Torture" from like 0:49... I have a hard time finding ways to describe what can be heard. In the best way possible, this dude is insane. The level of aggression and hatred he is able to present is yet to be topped by anyone I ever heard.

Now, on to the lyrics. It's not like you can understand the lyrics as you listen to the record, maybe occasionally. The album is full of insane, aggressive, deranged lyrics, that paint extremely disturbing levels of horror in front of you. For example, check out "Certain Death". Or better, check out "Undead". The guys who wrote this must be quite passionate about these topics, to say the least. However, the mere creation of these lyrics wouldn't be all that dark, without the fascinating delivery. The way vocalist Darren Travis delivers them is what really takes them over the top.

It is hard to put this disc into words. If there is a thing called "ultra thrash", this should be the only record that falls under that category. This record is not to be listened to at all times, as it's far too dark or brutal, even for the most morbid of thrashers. At times, the album is outright scary, it takes the listener deeper into the pains and sources of evil and suffering than anything you've ever experienced before. It is It's not something you just put on for fun, when everything is totally fine. There's absolutely NOTHING normal, conventional, usual or generic about this. Nothing pretty, nothing aesthetically pleasing, nothing even remotely close to any of that. However, there is a time and place for this album. Based on what is written in this paragraph, this album shouldn't work. It shouldn't be effective.

Yet it is the most effective one at what it was intended to do. It describes the suffering, the excrucisting, penetrating, sharp pain of a human mind. It is a question whether anyone in music history took brutality, heaviness, musical violence, musical gore, extremity and intensity any further than this. My guess is no, and no one ever will.

"Ever lasting Intensity
Perpetuating Destiny
Excruciating Agony
Certain Death"

It puzzles me a little how I always associate Steve DiGiorgio with Sadus despite the fact that he's played bass in about a million other bands, and yet I can name none of the other members who contributed to the pretty famous debut Illusions. Also, considering how DiGiorgio became maybe the name for technical death metal bass playing (largely due to his mastery of the fretless variety he touted so often), the only comment I can make initially about his performance here is that he's fast. But that's a silly comment, because if Illusions proved anything, all the pertinent points related to speed. Indeed, for anyone who thought 'Necrophobic' seemed a little pedestrian on Reign in Blood, this quartet will be right up your alley, utilizing raw speed almost excessively and concluding the 10 track album in the expectedly brief 29 minutes. In my view, raw speed isn't quite as bad as raw onion, though both are equally difficult to mix with other elements and can make your eyes water. That's the kind of effect Sadus have on me.

Naturally, a lot of the fame of Illusions relates to it constituting one of the stepping stones between thrash and death metal, which was only just emerging in 1988. By reducing much of the conventional musicality that thrash possessed in its grooves, tasteful momentum, and elaborate soloing, Sadus were on the edge of the precipice, even if most of these songs just sound like really fast thrash that rarely considers tremolo over down-picking. I get the same feel when I listen to Pleasure to Kill, that these guys simply wanted to play faster and thus had to resort to other techniques than the standard thrash riffs when the intensity reached bursting point. The vocals do the same, Darren Travis barking out most of the lyrics in a snarling voice that reminds me of Sacred Reich's Phil Rind due to the speed he needs to enunciate, then breaking into a shredding scream when that pedestrian humanity feels insufficient. Therefore, I don't really call Illusions a death metal album, even if the chaotic noise-burst solos and often non-linear song structures demand me to make some concessions.

As I said, the largest point to discuss is the raw speed. The sequence of riffs that blaze out from the feedback introduction of 'Certain Death' does include a mid-paced passage that grooves a little, and several songs make use of the same technique; however, we are speaking of an album that spends 70% of its time at a pace faster than anything Sodom or Exodus or Forbidden ever thought of writing. Satisfying to say, the riffs can be distinguished from one another when I make some effort to discern the patterns, and the drums offer a bit of variety and a thankfully forgiving position in the mix, otherwise headaches would be inevitable and boredom might set in. In fact, the sparkling melodic introduction of 'Undead' highlights how much of a classic heavy metal sound the album actually has, which therefore rumbles the prominent bass, toms, and kick drums down the bottom when at racing speed, from which Travis's vocals stand out due to his mid-ranged style, while the riffing blurs a bit by contrast. I suppose what keeps the speed and aggression fresh comes down to how Sadus manipulate the song structures to disguise the advent of feisty double-kick sections or, equally often, to build up to them with typical thrash cymbal grabs. That and the zillion riffs on each song, probably.

However, most interesting of all are the moments when Illusions shirks its status as an extreme thrash or proto-death listen. 'Chemical Exposure' quite obviously can't be called a song when it consists of mutilated feedback and effects, yet the soundscape it paints accords much better with the reality of radiation sickness and nuclear aftermath than a fast, shouty cut would. Couple that with 'Sadus Attack' - yes, the 100 second song - opening in dreary doomy style and we actually have some atmosphere to surround the impulsive terror that the other numbers represent. I'm surprised also by the instances when Sadus opt for actually less extreme styles that suit themselves to the speed onslaught, such as the rising repetitions of the riff near the end of 'Torture' (where DiGiorgio gets a bass solo), which could almost be an Iron Maiden song played by a band with seconds to live, or the similarly classic-sounding long jam at the opening of 'Undead'. To whit, 'Hands of Fate' returns to that Lightning Maiden trick, hanging around for longer than 'Torture'.

The only problem with such a formula as Sadus's can be found when trying to recall parts of the album. Most of the details from the previous paragraph could probably be brought to mind, yet the songs that simply maintain the "tearing your throat out" sound, such as 'Twisted Face' or 'And Then You Die' fail to make much impact beyond the very obvious impression of their arrival. Of course, leaving the album brief was for the best, but you can't act surprised about Sadus changing the formula for the subsequent Swallowed in Black to incorporate longer songs and varied ideas. All the same, even the plainer thrashing moments of Illusions would be well worth spending some time with, particularly the title track and 'Certain Death', both of which rage like Kreator eating Slayer, slam the mid-paced grooves like Sodom, and reach into the fury of proper death metal a couple of times too. What's more, despite all the speed and rather average mix, the Californian foursome knew how to handle their instruments perfectly well, so there's no sloppiness to contend with. All in all, a fearsome debut album that was certainly worth doing once.

Sadus' debut belongs to a certain subset of thrash records that came out in the mid-1980s, in the vein of Pleasure to Kill, Reign in Blood, Darkness Descends, Eternal Devastation, Finished with the Dogs, and many more. This sort of thrash isn't the more melodic fare you'll find in a lot of bands, this goes straight for the jugular and doesn't let go. The songs tend to be shorter and faster, with vocals that can border on death metal. The records themselves rarely pass 40 minutes, and tend more to be in the 30s. In short, face-melting, utterly punishing, high-bpm statements of violence, both very unsubtle and very enjoyable. This record, put simply, is all of those things.

From the album's opener, Certain Death, Sadus doesn't beat around the bush. After about 30 seconds of slowly increasing feedback, the thrash begins, and doesn't let up for the next 25 minutes. Certain Death is probably the best song on the album. It even has a short section in 9/8, which I didn't even notice was in there until I looked at a tab. That's a hallmark of impressive compositional skill, being able to sneak progressive parts into a song like that while still keeping the straight-ahead thrash vibe intact. Despite being probably the best one on the album, Certain Death has some stiff competition. The album isn't quite at the level where every track is uniformly amazing, but it's still quite consistent. There's more or less not a bad song on here. With the exception of the final track (which I will go into later), the songs are fairly similar, barrelling along at high intensity and crushing all in their path.

Each band member is amazing in their own right. Steve Di Giorgio is probably responsible for a lot of people finding this band: the guy has been all over the place in the past 20 years, and this was where he got his start. The bass isn't quite as virtuosic as can be seen in his later works, but it's still very good, and while not the most technical he's ever done, it's very interesting and well-composed. A good bass sound that's high in the mix can do a lot for an album, and it does a lot for this one. I can't think of many (or even any) thrash albums with a bass quite as prominent as the one exhibited here. It adds a lot of nuance to the album, but doesn't do so at the expense of any heaviness or "brutality". It also works well with the guitar. Di Giorgio isn't just following the guitar, but he's not going off in another direction counterproductive to the songs either. There are, however, occasional short bass solos scattered throughout the album, which are great and work much better than I would have expected for this kind of album). This bass work and Darren Travis' falsetto are the two things that make this album really stand out.

Darren Travis handles both vocals and half the guitars in this, both of which are stellar. The riffwork is pretty standard for this period, namely very good. His vocals are a bit more unique. A lot of it's a fairly standard raspy proto-death stuff, but he also sometimes does an awesome sort of shrieking falsetto. Said falsetto is of the really high raspy sort, reminding of Sheepdog of Razor or Kenn Nardi of Anacrusis. One song where it particularly stands out is "Torture" where it's used a lot to considerable effect. The man sounds like he's being tortured while singing about it. This falsetto and the bass work are the two things that make this album really stand out. Without them, it'd still be good, but with them it's both good and interesting.

Jon Allen on drums is in the uncomfortable position of being a very good musician next to two incredible ones here. Still, he puts in a very good performance, keeping a steady groove at speeds in excess of 200 bpm, and being generally up to the task of the physically strenuous job of thrash drummer. His double bass work, which shows up in spots, is quite impressive. He doesn't do incredibly progressive things here, but in a way, that's a good thing. With the more wild acrobatics of the other two members, Allen keeps the affair grounded, which you do need a little bit of on this end of the subgenre.

Remember when I said above there were "more or less" no bad tracks? We now come to the "more or less": the last track on the album. Now, I think I can see what Sadus were trying to do with this, but it doesn't really work, and is the reason I can't give this album a 9/10 or more. Closing with an instrumental is something that can work on an album. Maybe it even could have worked on this one, though I rather doubt it. The problem isn't with the song, either, it concerns the structure of an album. When you want something to really hit home, send off the message of the album loud and clear, you've got to end it with a real bang. Kreator and Slayer knew this much, finishing off their respective most famous albums in this category of thrash with Under the Guillotine and Raining Blood. Both of those were among the strongest tracks in the album. I suspect Reign in Blood wouldn't have the reputation it has today had a different track been the closer. What Sadus, perhaps inadvertently, have done here, is to create a violent onslaught of an album that doesn't let up on you, until the last track comes, and, well, lets up. What would fit here is a blisteringly violent track, an affirmation of the album's goal and message, namely to smash your face in. Instead, we got a vaguely creepy-sounding ambient instrumental. This does not affirm a crushing thrash metal album, it affirms something rather more cerebral and "modern". This isn't an intrinsically bad thing, and it might have worked as an intro of some kind, but it simply doesn't fit where it is.

At its core, Illusions is a quality slab of violent unrelenting 80s thrash metal. It stands a bit apart from the pack by very good performances and an somewhat surprising undercurrent of creativity. Aside from the impressive task of being this heavy for a sustained about of time, It's quite good at keeping up the tricky balancing act of being comparatively sophisticated without sacrificing an iota of face-melting, and that's no easy task. If you like the heavier side of thrash, or just like extreme metal in general, this will definitely be up your alley.

I can’t possibly forget the day when I got exposed to these chemicals here the first time; a guy gave me the cassette some time in 1989, warning me that this was “some truly brutal stuff”… and it was truly brutal stuff for sure, no second opinion about that, one that made me forget the name Sadus faster than the one of my gorgeous big-breasted high school chemistry teacher who only briefly made out with me in the heat of the graduation ball, refusing to give me the… full-on nude revision of the Mendeleev table that I was expecting as a farewell gesture in a small remote, seemingly built for this purpose, park/garden. What the hell was her name indeed: Georgia, Stephanie, Seduca… yeah, that last one!

Forget it, nevermind; what really matters here is that Darren Travis and the ever-steady Co. were feeling quite angry at this early stage of their career, their sole intention being on spitting as much bile and venom over the (un)suspecting fanbase. They grabbed the good old thrash straight for the throat, twisted its neck, and forced it into a most uncivilized marriage with the up-and-coming death metal, more unceremoniously than their European brethren Messiah and Protector even.

Nah, I wasn’t ready for such anti-musical atrocities in the late-80’s; and it wasn’t until I bumped into the excellent “Elements of Anger” in 1997 that I recalled the band and decided to revisit their back catalogue, invariably confronting this illusory recording again. More than 20 years down the line I still have problems taking it seriously, and this blitzkrieg therapy was by no means meant to be viewed as such in the first place, its title a most telling one: “Hold no illusions whatsoever, folks; we are much more proficient musicians than what you’re hearing here, and we’ll surely blow your socks off with our future exploits. Let’s merely scare the livin’ hell out of you for a start.”

And the guys by all means achieved both as first we have a pile of really toxic chemicals to wade through, and with the utmost caution we will make a first timid step inside, only to see/hear our worst fears realised down to the... it’s certain death we’re facing, and the song of the same title promises no mercy with “Pleasure to Kill” copulating with “Misanthropy”, with Travis assiduously supervising this heinous act with his hellish shouty rendings. Expect no coitus interruptus here under any form as the melee goes on unabated, “Sadus Attack” bursting all borders of musical decency with its near-grindcore layout, its shining example loyally followed later by similarly-styled outrages like “Torture” and “And Then You Die”. Yes, lots of odes to death and dying here, some of them served in a marginally more bridled (“Hands of Fate”) manner, others (“Twisted Face”, “Fight or Die”) racing with Cryptic Slaughter’s eye-gouging debut every bit of the relentless, hyper-brutal way. The title-track creates the illusion (no pun intended) that something more tamed and more intricate can get stirred, and indeed the cleverer, less aggressive riffage applied on it is a covert harbinger of what followed suit on later instalments.

Wow… if the mentioned Cryptic Slaughter outing is, and will always be, the epitome of unrestrained, still loosely thrash-fixated, over-the-top brutality from the 80’s (and beyond), the album reviewed here can rightfully be placed right after it, but only once it’s won the tough tussle with Protector’s “Misanthropy”, (Incubus’ “Serpent Temptation”, anyone?) of course. The less squeamish must have come out of this half an hour with a very wide smile on their faces cause, honestly, not many were the albums that could capture the tag “extreme aggression” so well in its entirety back then; for those who cared, of course, as the simplistic primal, unpretentious barrage experienced definitely found its fanbase in the late-80’s the band not too concerned about the more serious tendencies that had sprung up at the time and had started shifting things towards more proficient ways of execution. The Sadus team gave a sheer lesson to both the more and less initiated in how one could shred like demented, and still remain within the thrash boundaries without tumbling heads-over-heels into less trodden at the time, more brutal territories. The stone was cast, the mission was accomplished, now it remained to be seen where next to conquer…

and the next conquest came, covered in black from top to bottom, two years later the guys turning to the other extreme, the technical metal field, to everyone’s utter surprise. Yeah, not many were those who thought that Sadus, of all acts, would become one of the prime exponents of the progressive/technical death/thrash idea throughout the 90’s; not after they had recently provided one of the most stripped-down, most primal examples of metal extremity… it turned out that the guys were paying attention, after all, to the trends on the field; they simply had to gain inertia before stimulating the fans’ imaginations with more intricate soundscapes; and those came in abundance, all the way to their last instalment so far, the divisive “Out for Blood”.

The fabulous trio haven’t been a very regular presence on the scene in the new millennium, sad(us)ly; the audience hasn’t been exposed to any insalubrious chemicals recently; chemistry is losing its position as a major subject in the schools around the world… and just to think that this nightmarish situation can so easily be corrected with a single compulsive brutal revision of Mendeleev’s table…

There's few things in life that are as exciting and addictive as 80's extreme metal. Ya know, the bands that paved the way for bigger more sonic extremeness; Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Possessed, Bathory, Mayhem, Sarcófago, Sepultura and Death, to name but a few. In '88, who would have expected, amongst all the fast and mostly fun thrashers from California, that there would be four lads from Antioch who'd make a pummeling niche in the 80's extreme scene that was faster and more insane that just about anyone before them. Their name, Sadus!

Formed in '84, while the members were still in high school, Sadus would produce the, 'Death to Posers' (or D.T.P.) demo in '86, followed by the 'Certain Death' demo in '87, before appearing on a compilation called, 'Raging Death,' which also featured some other dudes called, Xecutioner, who later on became Obituary. The bands self financed debut, 'Illusions' followed in '88, produced by John Marshall, then guitarist of Metal Church, and went on to sell over 7,000 copies. Subsequent pressings did however rename it Chemical Exposure, but never mind such smalltalk, let's discuss this beast, regardless of what you wish you call it.

From the get go, 'Illusions' utterly explodes out of your speakers! I mean, ridiculously fast riffing, hammering drumming, intricate bass work and some of the most hastily screamed vocals and deranged howls at the time. Like some sort of evil, mean mother fucking, bastard three-way wedlock of Sepultura's 'Schizophrenia,' Sarcófago's 'I.N.R.I.,' and Death's 'Scream Bloody Gore,' 'Illusions' doesn't quite get the credit it rightly deserves. Honestly, its far more intense than anything else that was being called death metal at the time, and the fact that even within all the raging chaos there's balance and intricacy within, which really makes it one of the most important records within the development of the genre. Then again, there's plenty of thrash to be found, mostly a Kreator influence, which will infinitely have this record labeled as a thrash/death record.

Nevertheless, 'Illusions' just freakin' kills. Steve DiGiorgio, who'd eventually be known as a bass god, is simply amazing here. His explosive fretless bass work stands out dynamically amongst such speed and aggression, and all the technicality that would later show up with his stint with Death is on display, as well. Heck, there's even a bass solo, which was just unheard of at the time. Darren Travis and Rob Moore's guitar work is pushed to the limit, easily being some of the fastest thrash riffing of the time, yet much like the bass, has more than enough thrill behind it and some damn pleasing riffs and solos to boot. The same goes for Jon Allen's drum work. Yes, he beats the bejesus out of them skins during the duration of this record, but the technical percussive massacre that is his was again, just not heard of at the time. And of course, Darren's vocals are beyond insanity, just spittin' fast shrieks and long winded howls that just send shivers down your spine and even sound intense all these years later.

It would be hard to pick a favorite as the whole album stands its ground mightily, but 'Undead,' 'Sadus Attack' and 'Torture' really hit home with me and just get me all the more excited every single time I listen to this destructive creature. I'm talking about total head banging, fist pumping, toe tapping, screaming in your own apartment by yourself fun right here. Yes, 'Illusions' fucking kicks ass. Atttttttttttttack!

Sadus would go on to sign a deal with Roadrunner Records and release 'Swallowed in Black' in '90, which is equally impressive, though not nearly as chaotic, but furthers the technicalities of their music greatly. Its a rocky downward slump from their as 'Visions of Misery' was just a lot of showing off, I never heard 'Elements of Anger' and the comeback album, 'Out for Blood' just plain sucked.

Regardless of their shaky career, you owe it to yourself to hear this debut. I'm quite convinced you'll be surprised that this monster is faster, more raging and generally just better than almost any other extreme metal record in the 80's.

Originally wrote for, Lunar Hypnosis: lunarhypnosis.blogspot.com

To say that the beginnings of the fringe extreme of metal are flooded with nuance and ambiguity is an obvious assessment, but trying to pick apart the details of said broad statement is quite a daunting task, but one well worth it when considering all of the stellar bands who were pushing the envelope in the 80s. By 1988, the bonds that held the sinister trio of black, death and thrash metal together, to the point that bands largely considered thrash metal by today's standards were referred to by any of those 3 sub-genre names interchangeably in the media, had begun to melt away. But for the most part, bands that were pushing the limits of extremity in the thrash template still exhibited characteristics that were equally attributable to bands like Death, Morbid Angel and Deicide on their earliest studio offerings, thus it would be a mistake to refer to albums like "Schizophrenia" and "Seven Churches" as simply being glorified thrash metal albums, though they don't go quite as far as the subsequent 3 in terms of their chaotic and atonal elements, which largely came to define the genre in the 1990s.

A rather curious and sorely overlooked rung in the ladder between the 2 previously mentioned groups of bands is Sadus, a band that ended up launching the career of none other than Steve DiGiorgio, who tends to be better known for recent exploits with the likes of Iced Earth and Testament. Their impressive and wildly frenzied debut "Illusions (Chemical Exposure)" is arguably the earliest example of an evenly balanced hybrid of the percussive, riff happy character of west coast, Bay Area influenced thrash sound typified in Exodus, as well as the edgier, nastier protagonist represented by the then growing Teutonic thrash movement and more death infused sound of Sepultura. In fact, the chaos factor (such as frequent blast beats and tremolo riffs) and the dynamic display of shouts and shrieks put out by Darren Travis are the only real thing that keep this from sounding like a shorter version of "Beneath The Remains" a full year before it came into being.

The general tone and tenor of this album is forward looking, anticipating a more multi-dimensional approach where tightness and an occasional creepy, atmospheric interlude with feedback noise are common, and one where song structures are a bit less predictable. Case and point "Chemical Exposure", a weird instrumental that closes the album and listens like a noise-tinged answer to the doom-infused character of Slayer's stylistic semi-departure "South Of Heaven". While an out-lier on an album that tends to be dominated by slightly more tightly conceived answers to Kreator's standard fair at the time, it definitely paints the picture of a band that is going beyond the usual tricks of up tempo, palm muted power chords with the occasional breakdown, and this proves to be the case on all of the songs that precede it.

When gaging the frequency of sub-3 minute and even sub-2 minute songs on here, once might be tempted to draw an inference to a stripped down, methodical approach along the lines of "Reign In Blood", but the actual picture proves to be a bit different. A lot of this can be attributed to the wild guitar soloing that goes well beyond even the insanity of King and Hanneman and sounds more like a preview for what Trey Azagthoth accomplished on "Altars Of Madness", as well as DiGiorgio's raunchy bass work which almost seems to be searching for something along the lines of what Cryptopsy would be working with in the mid 90s. But even without that, the clarity of the guitar work and the wild yet highly precise drum work take this in a somewhat more technical direction than the mid 80s work of Slayer and Kreator, which is what this album usually ends up getting compared to.

As tends to be consensus, this album is the absolute zenith of Sadus' still ongoing and evolving career. It's an album by a crazed pack of wolves on the hunt for greater prey, bursting forth from the late 80s underground with a desire to surpass the existing orthodoxy of American thrash metal. While it is sometimes argued that this album got a bit closer to the death metal sound than even the earliest works of Death, which parallel this era, a careful deconstruction of its overall elements puts it a bit closer to the ambiguous death/thrash hybrid that tends to be the final category of fellow pioneers Sepultura and Possessed. To be fair, Schuldiner was equally as influenced by Possessed as Sadus was, but the ultimate results heard on "Scream Bloody Gore" and "Leprosy" are quite different, and ultimately a tiny bit closer to the 90s sound than this album. But for those seeking a great death thrashing experience, this is about as good as it gets for 1988.

Althought I'm implying that this album is largely influenced by Kreator's pioneering sophomore album (which it is), this album is still very unique. Building off Kreator's Extreme Agression (no pun intended), and adding some death metal to it's sound, Sadus had a sound of their own. I would even say that Sadus's debut sounds far more "deathly" than the band death at this point. Neither Scream Bloody Gore, or Leprosy are anywhere near as extreme as this, and yet both those albums are countinually praised as being instumental in the creation of the death metal genere, while this gem, which once again shows many traits of death metal, gets little to nothing. In my oppinion, it is false to call this merely an extreme thrash metal album as many do. From the several blastbeats, to the numerous early death metal riffs, it is evident that Sadus was not merely thrash, and was one of the bands who helped the genere progress, and evolve into death metal. However, traces of Sadus's thrash influences, mainly Kreator, can still be heard., which keeps this in the death/thrash subgenre, and not full death metal.

One of the most obvious indications of their roots is Darren Travis's Shrieking, banshee like vocals, which are very similar indeed to Mille Petrozza. Not quite like Tom Araya's simple shouts, like many claim. this is in stark contrast to the gutteral, death growls found in full death metal from this period. Also, the band's tendency to go "full speed ahead", which is infact a true feature of thrash, and different from the tempo changes, that have become associated with full death metal.

On this album, they didnt realy focus as much on technicality, as they did on their secound album, but hints of Sadus's outstanding technical albilities can still be heard. Just like Pleasure to Kill, Illusions shows thrash streched to its absolute limit in terms of speed and agression, and I believe that in 1988, this was America's best answers to the Teutonic scene, which up to this point had completely outclassed American bands (with the exception of Dark Angel, Viking, Vio-lence, Incubus, Morbid Saint, and only the very fastest material from Slayer) in the speed category. For once, America show that they to can thrash with brutal intensity, and wernt just restrained, overly melodic and soft, like a certain band in the bay area, and I'm sure you know who im talking about. And despite being very chaotic ,this is far more technical and competent that anything from Slayer or Metallica. Slayer's riffs sound a bit more stripped down, much more polished and slightly slower by comparrison, making those who swear Sadus are Slayer ripp-offs sound very ignorant. From the vocal style, to the riffs, and drumming displayed here, there are no similarities between the two bands. Most of the songs are short blasts played at 310+bpm, something Slayer could never acheive.

The bass on this album really makes it stick out from most others of this period. As we all know (hopefully),Steve DiGiorgio is a beast at the Bass, and Thunder of his fretless base can clearly be heard amongst the fury and blinding speed of the other intruments, which gives this album (and this band for that matter) a distinct, unique sound. All of the talent he showed with the more technical works of death are hear, and one song even has a bass solo.

Many people however, fail to realize this bands talent, and use the fact that they are way more straight forward than most, to argue that they are primative. Well, I say The fact that Sadus is even capable of palying as fast, and as technical as they do only shows how unique, and superior this band is. Sadly, they dont get half the credit they deserve ,and many bands that are inferior to this one get much more recognition. To me, this is a crime. This and Incubus's serpent temptation are without a doubt my favorite albums of all time The masterpiece that is Illusions remains one of the most brutal albums of the 80's, full of semi-technical riffs and a fury that only Sadus can deliver. Highly recomended for those who like to hear to very orgins of death metal. You are hardly a thrasher if you dont own this album, so GET IT!!!!!! Or, certain death awaits you!

Man, oh, man. Does this album leave your eardrums caught up in a bloody mess. This is absolute brutality in consistency. Then again the masters behind this legendary monster, Sadus, were able to deliver an album so bonecrushing, so together, it will leave you headbanging all the way.

The album starts off with some sort of weird noise( yeah?) leading the listener to an apocalyptic end of what is the song Certain Death.This song kills, no doubt. It tells the listener whats in store for the next half hour, yeah the album is short, but it's o.k. it makes up for musicianship. The songs just pummel their way through your cerebral cortex. The guitars are played fast, the drums are played fast, the bass shreds, and the vocalist literally spits out his words. The sadudes here delivered us a death metal classic. Note that I say death metal( in vein of the old times) this is waaaay too brutal for the thrashers. Man, oh, man, death metal sounded the best when played with this kind of ferocity, I do not not know why the genre stopped giving us this sort of sound. Now a days you only get the groovish, heavy, blasting all the way death metal sound. That remark is in no way disclaiming the great brutal death metal bands ( Broken Hope, Cryptopsy, Suffocation). Its just to say many bands kinda lured away from the real idea of death metal, ( look up Possesed's Seven Churches).

The general idea of this album is to crush, kill, and destroy. The idea is represented in the albums entirety. Songs like The Undead and Torture definately leave the metal posers massacred. Just listen to the vocalists shrieks in the song Torture, he kinda reminds me of Maniac in the Deathcrush EP. Killer, just killer. The bass here is a worthy mention, definately a hundred times audible, with Mr. DiGiorgio at helm.

For the true fans of old school death metal, highly reccomended. It will please your deathrashing needs. Not for those weak in mind.

Whenever I’m thinking about or discussing really fast and truly aggressive old school eighties thrash metal, Sadus must be, will be and shall forever be mentioned. It’s inevitable. ‘Illusions’ is a landmark in brutal thrash metal, influencing bands such as Dead Head and retrobands like Magnetron and Hypnosia. Yet, when I’m being honest about them I really think as a band they haven’t done anything interesting since…. Even though I do like several details and ideas on ‘Swallowed in Black’ from that point on I got more annoyed and bored which each of their albums.

They’ve always been first rate musicians but after two releases these quality musicians started playing second rate material. Their shortcomings in the song writing department became too obvious on ‘A Vision of Misery’ and more recent material. They’re a bunch of good lads, good musicians but they do let their vision blurr the basic key element of writing good music: a ‘song’ obviously isn’t that easy to write. A collection of riffs and tempos put together with some lyrics over it doesn’t imply the concept of a song.

From that perspective I find it quite remarkable that on ‘Illusions’ the band were actually able to write decent songs. The band has gotten pretentious over the years and forgot what made their initial sound and name so classic in the first place: A furious pace, a tight execution and an enormously brutal performance and attitude. And that is exactly what makes ‘Illusions’ such a great album. Imagine Pleasure to Kill being performed in the tightest way possible yet without losing it’s aggression. Even though the riffs and breaks are more ingenious here that on that Neanderthal Kreator release.

Negative aspects? Sure, there are some. The instrumental beginning of ‘Undead’ is obsolete. A lot of breaks and riffs, never to the point or building up to something. You just have to way for a while till the song really begins. The intro to this song is what their third album would sound like in totality: pointless show-off behaviour. The guitar riff at the beginning of ‘Sadus Attack’ is probably the most generic thrash metal riff ever written but fortunately from that point on the song becomes an impressive raging thrasher. And closing track ‘Chemical Exposure’ is a waste of two minutes. Sound like an intro but at the end of the album.

But for the rest, just a great album. Great? Marvellous actually. One of the most brutal and fast thrash metal albums from the eighties. Relentless drumming and the vocals go over the top more than once. I still enjoy it to this day and after more than 20 years it still sounds relevant and aggressive.

This is thrash stretched to its absolute limit in terms of velocity and ferocity. If you’ve heard Sadus’ latest (Out For Blood) then I share my condolences but don’t even think about skipping out on Illusions. Everything about this awesome just rapes face; the riffs are impossibly fast, the vocals are ridiculously awesome and raw, and Steve Digorgio shows his roots as a superb bassist. Lots of people are all too eager to yell “Reign in Blood” when confronted with “Illusions” but I find that comparison highly inaccurate. Illusions is faster, more technical, less incoherent, more memorable and more “in your face”. Consequently, it ranks as my favourite thrash album of all time.

One of the interesting things about this album is the varied song structure. You have your basic cyclic passages like “Certain Death”, a two minute intro of pure thrashing goodness minus vocals in “Undead” and a couple short completely balls-out songs like “Sadus Attack”, not to mention a somewhat ambient outro in “Chemical Exposure“. With all the diversity in structure, the album remains unpredictable and holds your attention better than any tiresome formulaic album.

Everything about Illusions is almost impossibly fast; I want to get that out of the way right now so that I needn’t reiterate when describing the guitars or vocals, uncompromising speed is the single most important axiom this album rests upon. The guitars have an edgy yet satisfying deep tone and tear through the riffs with impressive precision. The riffs themselves can be quite technical and are actually extremely varied, as you’ll find out in `Hands of Fate`, but they are rooted in the same style as `Reign in Blood" and `Pleasure to Kill" only they seem to make much more sense, incorporating a light sense of melody into the riffs. Most of the solos here are pretty evocative of 80`s thrash and death metal, where speed and chaos is favoured over melody or coherence. That being said, some of the solos are noticeably more controlled and thought out than others, which gives the impression that the songs here were written over a long period of time and that the band’s song writing skills evolved over this time.

This might just be an idiosyncratic affinity of my own, but I absolutely adore Darren Travis` vocals here. He has a high pitched yet brutally raspy scream that pierces the listener’s ear with unbridled fury and viciousness. The most noteworthy performance comes on `Torture" where he emulates what sounds like some dude being tortured. His shrieks (that’s likely what they are most accurately referred to as) are absolutely earsplitting on this track, and while I normally dislike the style, it certainly finds its niche on “Torture“.

Steve Digorgio’s bass antics are present even with his first band and he plays with a style that just hasn’t been emulated in thrash metal since. You can hear the strings hit the pickups every now and then, which is that same nostalgic eccentricity present on Autopsy’s “Severed Survival” and several other Digorgio-related projects. Bass solos pop up over and under riffs with great frequency in almost every song. This is a great change of pace for the more extreme side of thrash metal, which tends to focus on guitars a little too much and downplay the bass’s importance and presence. I do wish the high end of the bass was more audible, but just take a listen to the outrageous bass solo on “Torture” and you’ll find it’s hard to ask for anything more. His playing gives the album an edge that no other band can contend for.

The drums sound very nice, well mic’d and well played. Though the kit isn’t abused as profusely as the guitars or the bass, it does an excellent job of keeping up, and hitting the right cymbals on the right beats, making those riffs seem all the more powerful. The drumming on this album is a clinic in unobtrusive, rhythm based drumming that doesn’t overpower the music. It isn’t as though the dude is a slowpoke by any means, conversely he’s pretty damn fast for his time but it isn’t at the hyperbolic level that the rest of the album runs on.

Regardless of what Sadus has become, I feel as though they can lay claim to what might be the fastest and most ferocious thrash album ever recorded. I’m subtracting three points for sound quality and mixing issues, but otherwise this can be considered a perfect album, at least in the context of thrash. It blows down the gates during “Certain Death” with a clear cut goal in mind, namely; to thrash your fucking face off, and it executes like so few albums do and succeeds as well as any great album does. If you’re a fan of faster thrash like Dark Angel, Slayer, Kreator, Possessed and everything in between, this might as well be your holy grail.

Sadus, the starting point of one of metal's most revered bassists, Steve DiGiorgio, released what is arguably the most intense thrash album of all time. Comparisons to Reign in Blood are thrown about usually, but they are very valid comparisons. Both records break the sound barrier in terms of speed and are comprised mainly of short bursts of total balls out thrashing intensity.

The two most notable aspects of Illusions, are easily DiGiorio's incredible fretless bass runs (Tortured has an honest to god bass solo under one of the riffs!) and Darren Travis's frenzied shrieks. I have never heard a more blood curdling cry from any other vocalist in any genre, he honestly sounds like he's being tortured in Hell! They are a little hard to describe (apart from my preceding analogy) but once you hear them, you'll never forget, they are very recognizable.

As we all know, thrash is all about the riffs, and Sadus delivers 150%. There is no shortage of extremely fast hybrid riffs combining Kreator and Slayer, which is a top notch combination. Nothing on the album sounds out of place, and it lets up very few times, presumably to allow you to scrape yourself off the floor before the splatter your face all over again. The drumming remains intense throughout and compliments the bass perfectly. You may find yourself constantly focusing on the bass, which never EVER happens in thrash metal. Maybe that's why Sadus stands out above the plethora of half assed thrash releases from 1988.

There are some midpaced sections like the beginning of Sadus Attack and sections of Twisted Face and Undead. But fear not, as about 90% of the album is pure aggression that rages along slaughtering all in it's path; the second half of Sadus Attack, intro of Illusions and Certain Death are the most prevalent, but pretty much everything barring the closer is a riff monster that rips your face apart, laughs at you, shits on your bed, fucks your girlfriend, and steals your microwave. And it seems like most of the slower parts are immediately followed by some of the fastest sections on the album. Examples, Twisted Face starts off with a riff that seems to be an homage to the classic film Jaws, but then rips into one of the fastest numbers on the whole record. Also, Sadus Attack starts out as the most downtempo song here, but is actually one of the most intense tracks ever to come out of 1988 after the first minute.

In the end, Illusions stands as one of the most extreme thrash releases of all time. DiGiorgio's masterful songwriting and bass technique ranks him as one of my favorite bassists in metal. Darren Travis has one of the most distinct screams known to the genre, and adds to the frantic zombie and war lyrics. Some songs may not stand out very much, but that is not a main aspect of thrash, like it is with power metal. Highly recommended for fans of thrash with a moderate death metal influence. The reason it didn't score higher is because the last track, Chemical Exposure has zero purpose and is just two minutes of noise. Thankfully it is the last track, and can be overlooked.

Buy it if possible, wonderful thrash assault.

I consider myself to be a pretty mellow metal guy. I've never really seen an album which makes me scream "FUCKING THRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHH", or tell people that their pussies for not liking it, or think that it can promote testicle growth. But there is one exception, and that is Sadus' Chemical Exposure. Sadus' debut is simply the most badass album ever written. I've heard a lot of quality thrash albums over the years, and I've loved them immensely, but this is basically the only one which has brought me to a state of insanity and rage which actually alters my state of mind significantly. All the cheesy review lines of how an album can kick your ass and rape your mother apply here. And they're true. I swear, exposing this album to an infant will bring on puberty instantaneously.

Everything about this album is damaging. The guitars are faster than a STD travelling through a third world country, the drumming is violent and pounding, with a range of primitive, thrashy blast beats being launched out of the band at all times. An audible bass backing up the crushing guitar work, and vocals which are vicious and deranged. The songs are fantastically written, each giving a display of both fast as hell thrashing and slightly slowed down crushing sections.

This album basically flawless, it's a short burst of hectic thrash at it's most violent. It's only 29 minutes long, that’s including a 3 minute outro consisting of nothing, just a few little noises, it's not a song as such. But I'll be damned if those 26 minutes of music aren't amongst the best ever written. The first thing that you'll notice is of course the sheer aggression that this album holds, it's fast, and even during the slower sections the guitars are still slaying faster than few bands could dream of. But the key to this absurd speed is that the riffs are actually good. Not just good, these riffs are catchy well written technical thrash, with an added dose of pissed off attitude. And then you have the solos, which are kind of a mix between Slayer solos and talent. So it sounds really fucking nasty, whilst still consisting of some difficult to play shit.

When it comes to drumming, there were few better in the thrash scene. It's hectic, fast, and as brutal a piece of thrash drumming you'll here. There's thrash beats, blast beats, and like the guitars, amidst it's overwhelming brutality it's also quite technical.

Then of course you have the mighty Steve DiGiorgio. His sound is huge, the guitars hardly weak, but the bass still shines through with blistering speed, precision, and still musical writing. Honestly, Steve has got to be up near the top of my bass players list, and this is him at his best.

And of course, you've got the vocals. Darren sounds evil, I guess his vocals could be considered death metal vocals, but only in the sense that they sort of sound like Chuck Shauldiner at quadruple speed. Very fast, very gritty screamed vocals. Then you have his bigger vocals, which show up in "Torture" most notably, with a huge shriek which actually kicks ass. So add Darren Travis to my vey small list of vocalists who can shriek and still sound badass.

The production is actually very impressive, the guitars have a mean sound, quite thick and very audible, the bass is very loud and I am thankful for that, not to mention that they both sound very clear, and it's easy to hear what's being played. I cannot thank the producer enough, because a muddy production would hurt an album with guitars this fast more than you could imagine. The drums are pretty clear other than the bass drum, which is very quiet, but maybe that’s just because I'm used to triggers. Damn this modern age, we're spoilt.

The songs are pretty varied; there are a couple of lengthier tracks, which offer a plethora of tempo changes and riffs. You have the more standard Sadus length song, a little over 2 minutes long, also consisting of a range of tempos, but tends to pick one and stick with it. And then you have these songs that are under 2 minutes, and serve as short bursts of insanity. Carrying insane thrashers like "Sadus Attack" at full speed for their duration.

Everything is pretty similar, but none of the boring songs are much over 2 minutes, so it doesn't hurt too much. Basically, there's five flawless songs at the start, "Certain Death", "Undead", "Sadus Attack", "Torture", and "And You Die". The rest of the album is pretty similar to "Torture", just a little more midpaced, which would usually still be awesome, but look at it's competition. Another thing that hurts is the only song that really tried to take majorly different directions is "Hands Of Fate", so after that song's over the album doesn't reach the heights of what came before it again, "Fight or Die" is pretty friggen fast though, for some reason it just sounds like rehashed ideas. It's only like 8 and half minutes of slightly below perfect material, but it's a noticeable drop nonetheless.

On a slightly un-related note, I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with this guys on naming the album. First go round they named it after one of the least inspired songs, and then on the second go they named after a pointless outro with no riffs in it.

As for the whole 'sounds like slayer' thing, don't be bullshitted. This is far more brutal than Slayer ever was. There's a few Slayer-esque sections, such as Hands of Fate, which sounds exactly like Slayer during the beginning, but tell me that Undead or Sadus Attack are Slayer rip offs. All that's in common here is the fact that they write songs that are around 2 minutes long, and can do a dozen songs in about half an hour. There's not all that much in common when it comes to the music.

Sadus have put out one extreme thrash album, by far the most brutal thrash album I've heard, but the key is the songs are actually well written with good riffs. These guys know how to play, and the fact they can play it at the speeds they can is just a bonus. You have to buy this if you see it, rob a house for it, I don't care, you need this album.

This is a riff delivered thrashing album, that's means that there are no breaks for some acoustic passages with clean pluckings or anything relaxing. That's a pure headbang journey with tons of piercing riffs and intense drumming at absolute breakneck speed. Yes, you can call it a 'Reign In Blood' clone, it's also clocking out at twenty nine minutes and contains ten tracks, so it's definitely not an original album. But anyway, if it isn't unique, it doesn't mean it's crap. You can feel the Slayerish influence pretty easily but it still manages to be a solid thrashing monster for it's short playing time.

It's a pretty technical stuff here, but it's still sounds too much one dimensional. There aren't enough tempo breaks or c-parts which makes it sound a bit varied, thus in first listenings it will sound for you like a blend of dull riffs. It took me three or four listenings before I really began to enjoy this album, but afterwhile it clicked and I could really feel the intensiveness within this album.

The vocals are really fast. They are nasty and harsh and the lyrics thrown out extremely fast so it will be almost impossible to follow it without the lyrics in front of you.

If you looking for an uncomplicated thrash album, there is no reason to skip this one. It isn't revolutionary or outstanding by any meaning, but it's still a good album.

This album is a huge headbanger!!! Hmm...think about it this way...it's like if you gave four people high doses of amphetamines and then made them listen to Megadeth's "Killing Is My Business" album 10 times and then told them to make an album. From beginning to end you find fast and extremely thrashy riffs jerking your head and neck back and forth, but that's not all, when you hold your head still for a while, you hear that these riffs are also very well composed. They're not just three power chords played as fast and hard as possible. There's some variety on here, some good melody. If this were played at 2/3 the speed it is at, it would still have great value to a metal listener. Oh yeah, and not to mention the killer solos found all throughout. They mix the typical Slayer chaos with some well executed speed techniques. I don't really see too much death metal on here, although I can understand why others do. This is just extreme thrash! And it will make you thrash until your head falls off (or the album finishes...whatever comes first). The vocals are also typical thrash fare, the best explanation I can come up with is Don Doty meets early-era Chuck Schuldiner. As I recall, the vocals would become a lot raspier and more extreme as the band progressed into later releases. If you're a thrasher this is a must-buy-now-or-risk-cruel-mockery-from-other-thrashers, and if you're not Sadus have the power to convert you into a wild headbanging beast!!! AAARRRGH!!

Top notch death-thrash to be found here, sounding pretty out-there for 1988. This is done by the assorted blastbeats and other death-metal drum patterns, combined with the fast-as-fuck riffage, and the bass-heavy, thick production that is not that far removed from a band like Suffocation. Add in Darren Travis's crazed shrieking vocal delivery, and get one of the most extreme thrash releases of all time.

The tempo changes are very varied, from midpaced war-march intro to hyperfast blasting and back and again, all within the same song. The whole album has a battle feel to it, going back and forth between premeditated attack and all-out chaos... best embodied by the song "Sadus Attack", and then reflected also in the opener "Certain Death", and - to a lesser extent - the closing noise of "Chemical Exposure". The closer is pretty omittable, given that it comes last and doesn't feature any riffage. It sounds more like a Bathory intro/outro than anything else - lots of creaking doors and horrendous bass pieces, the final gasps of a mutilated zombie army, neutralised by the mustard gas when all other options failed.

The songs are short and sweet, with "And Then You Die" clocking in at a mere minute-forty-five, and the epic (intro included) "Certain Death", mirroring Hell Awaits to the rest of the album's Reign in Blood a whole four-fourteen. The next song, "Undead" comes in at a solid 4:02 and is probably the most complex song on here, reminiscent of Slayer trying to do a song like "Twisted Minds" (Possessed), with some of the riff cues coming from the latter, and the solo from the former.

The war comes to a full-tilt with "Sadus Attack", half triumph-of-death turned into clockwork in the intro, then "GO!" and the whole thing explodes into violent fury, before the explicit "ATTACK!" order is given and the song continues in its whiplash fashion, all hell letting loose, right on command. The whole thing is over in 1:44, the shortest song on here, but not nearly as incomplete as "Piece by Piece" or anything by SOD. It's a skirmish, the dust settles, the bodies are counted, and we move on.

Travis's vocals are something to behold... frightfully shrieky, but not quite in the Bathory sense, and certainly not the Dani "fuck my ass" Filth sense. TORTURE!!!!!!!! Throw in these awful shrieks over the fast Death/Slaughter passages (though more clean and with a guitar distortion more like that of Atheist), and then of course those absurdly great midpaced thrash moments. See for example, "Hands of Fate" which is total Slayer-meets-Slaughter, as it starts slow and then turns into another festival of brutality and absurd tempo changes.

I think this album is under a half-hour. The comparisons to Reign in Blood are inevitable. While not quite as historically awe-inspiring, this must still be commended for progressing the "thrash" genre - a real achievement for 1988. The death-metal influence is subtle, and verrry old-school - don't expect to hear any Morbid Angel-like noise passages here, even though the drumming is pretty non-traditional.

The best Sadus. Go get it.