Sadus – The Shadow Inside

Oh yes! Here’s another episode of grandpa’s tales! We’re going back to the 1980s, darkened as they were by nuclear threat. The year is 1987 and Borivoj Krgin (nowadays owner of Blabbermouth) releases the Raging Death compilation containing demos of unsigned bands. At least two of those bands have since changed their names. You now know Xecutioner as Obituary and R.A.V.A.G.E. under the name Atheist. You can read about it in the well-known ‘Choosing Death, The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore’. Also present on the compilation album is Sadus. Less interesting for the book, because that band plays a form of biting hyperthrash (not death), but it is this band that now, 36 years later, is releasing its sixth album.

The road to The Shadow Inside has been long and not always easy. A year after Raging Death, Sadus independently releases their debutalbum Illusions. After a record deal with the major Roadrunner Records, the record is re-released. This time (if I’m not mistaken, somewhat against the wishes of the band itself) under the name Chemical Exposure. The title was corrected in later editions. The sound is less easy to straighten out. At the time of recording, it was not easy to capture the music of a group with the reputation to play faster than Slayer in a sound that on the one hand has enough low end and on the other hand catches the lightning-fast antics of star bassist Steve DiGiorgio, for example. Yet Illusions remains a classic with which Sadus, together with Dark Angel, made thrash a step more extreme.

Top notch for me, however, is the follow-up Swallowed In Black (that first track alone!) from 1991. On this album, the madness (still in a biting and somewhat shrill sound) really explodes from your speakers. I still play the thing often (unlike the biggest metal album from that year)! That may have been part of the problem: death metal was in its heyday in the underground and Sadus‘ extreme sound was probably well liked by some of the fans, but it wasn’t death. On the other hand, most thrash bands started slowing down (Metallica, Countdown To Extinction, When The Storm Comes Down, The Ritual, Something Wicked This Way Comes and you can fill in your own favorite melothrash album) and you could hardly accuse Sadus of doing that.

The band’s musical genius therefore fell through the cracks a bit,  and a record that should have been in many record cabinets did not get there. It did not yet deter these gentlemen. They released a few more good, somewhat more technical albums with A Vision Of Misery and Elements Of Anger. On these albums, there is plenty of room for DiGiorgio’s often fretless antics. However, in 2006, as it now appears for the time being, the (release)curtain fell with Out For Blood, on which advanced recording techniques made themselves heard.

Then it became quiet for a long time until a few years ago we saw a message on singer Darren Travis’ Facebook page that he had pulled the plug on crowdfunding for the new record because there was not enough money coming in. Under the message we read some surprised reactions from fans who didn’t even know there had been any crowdfunding at all. However, Darren hinted that the album would probably happen after all. We assume that he already had some irons in the fire and Nuclear Blast is now forging them so that we can finally enjoy a new Sadus again after seventeen years.

Because, let’s just say it after this long run-up, it is certainly a joy! When I first listened to the forward post It’s The Sickness, I still had some reservations, in part because of the unusually slow vocal lines. But as soon as (between fear and hope) I press “play”, all doubts disappear like fiercely heated snow.

Opener First Blood of course opens (it’s thrash, right!) with an atmospheric, menacing intro and then goes wild with that well-known Sadus intensity but now in a nice 2023 sound. Yes, humanity has come a long way in more than thirty years! Jon Allen lays down a few extremely entertaining and varied drumrolls before the long-awaited acceleration kicks in to print a sardonic smile on our faces. This music can give such a boost of energy! It even starts to tickle slightly, also because of Darren’s maniacal vocals. At fifty-six he still sounds like the angrier brother of a young Mille Petrozza (Kreator). When Jon gives his legs some rest in the middle of the song, something else stands out. More than before the album seems to feature strong slower riffs based on the book of Slayer. Their crushing power is clearly audible in the slower tempi and the loads of groove with which they are performed. And damn it, Jon goes at it again.. He definitely does not have to do any cardio after this. The first blood flows freely!

With Scorched And Burnt you of course expect a power ballad and damn, you’re not that far wrong. Just kidding of course, but the pace drops considerably here without losing the intensity. Maybe this is a good time to tell you about the big (that’s what he looks like on stage anyway) absentee. On this record Jon and Darren do it without their old buddy Steve DiGiorgio, who also provided the bass sound for Death‘s great album Human and who is of course more than busy with Testament these days. On this new one, the emphasis therefor is slightly less on the bass guitar. We don’t even know who is touching the thick strings here. although sometimes their sound pierces nicely through.

We quickly move on to what turns out to be the next prize number. It’s The Sickness starts with one of those grinding riffs that you also encounter on God Hates Us All. Darren spits his bile and whatever comes after, until Jon decides that he can take it one step further and gallops off. Great opportunity to lay down a few fluent solos of course and his buddy doesn’t hesitate amid a whole range of tempo changes and more complex riffs. Ride The Knife starts off menacing with hoovering vocals, but soon runs into another nice and energetic acceleration: Extremity for all! Fifth track Anarchy lasts less than three minutes, but it is a full-on-go three minutes and perhaps the most intense thrash track of the year. In the chorus we seem to hear a guest singer (with a heavier voice) and we even have an idea who it could be, but we’re not going to make fools of ourselves here, of course. Oh, and Jon now needs some oxygen, we suspect.

On the second half of the record Sadus slows down a bit. Not like the aforementioned melothrash albums, but the tempo certainly goes down and grinding riffs are increasingly put forward as the ‘center point’ of the songs. Although I prefer the intensity of ‘side A’, Sadus easily steps up to the plate here too, with the closing title track as one of the standouts. Desolation (and guitar solos) abound here. Would you want anything different with a song titled The Shadow Inside?

The sixth of Sadus lasts about 45 minutes. Possibly a bit on the short side for a return after so many years, but actually perfect for an intense thrash record. Thrashers of all countries unite and get this album! Sadus and The Shadow Inside deserve it. And even more good news: the album is a great vehicle to finally bring the band to our region again (Alcatraz has already been confirmed!). I would certainly love to be there.

Score:

87/100

Label:

Nuclear Blast Records, 2023

Tracklisting:

1. First Blood
2. Scorched And Burnt
3. It’s The Sickness
4. Ride The Knife
5. Anarchy
6. The Devil In Me
7. Pain
8. No Peace
9. New Beginnings
10. The Shadow Inside

Line-up:

• Jon Allen – Drums
• Darren Travis – Vocals, guitar

Links:

• Sadus Facebook
• Nuclear Blast Records