Sadus – Out For Blood [Mascot Records 2006]



This is a review that has been waiting in the wings for a little while, as you might can figure out, as the album was released in 2006, though a great album that needs a few words on it's way, and the more exposure the better I guess.

Sadus, the much acclaimed technical thrash band with bass guitar virtuoso Steve DiGiorgio as the highlight, has returned after a 7 year hiatus, with this album. Not all comeback albums has been as strong as other, some even quite bad, and to think that some of ones old favorite band, should have stayed in the grave is quite harsh to realize.

Though luckily 'Sadus' isn't one of those records, the band sounds fairly fresh and with their knifes sharpened. Technical thrash metal with a lot of energy and passion, guitar melodies intertwined with groovy riffs and the godly bass play from Digiorgio and a furious mix of rhythm patterns and percussion style drumming. The 3 lads take on the music these days are quite modern and groove-laden, which I at first had a little trouble by seeing through, though the more listens the album has gotten, the better it becomes. A bigger problem, is the vocals, Darren Travis is a tortured man, at least he sounds like that, and that's cool. Though his screams fill a lot in the sound picture and do often drown out the guitars quite a lot, which is a shame, as the record could have used some more riff based bottom, and just not the guitar melodies. The heavenly bass and the quirky drumming. The incorporation of a little synth and samples aren't that bad, when the album has been listened through a good amount of times.

'Out For Blood' is not a bad record, though not as groundbreaking as the prior Sadus albums, well, that's not an easy task to make groundbreaking records nowadays, though this is still a strong album with a lot of great musicianship and details. Stronger production and song writing wouldn't have been off though, though that just makes room for some improvement on the next Sadus album.

http://www.stevedigiorgio.com/sadus/
http://www.myspace.com/sadus

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