Songs like “Sick” are awesome on all fronts. The guitars of Darren Travis are just crushing in a big, old-school power riff style. Even more than DiGiorgio, Travis is the star performer on this release. Songs like “Down” find Travis’ riffs to be compelling, while his evil voice is as coarse as you would expect from a thrash/death hybrid singer. Drummer Jon Allen is a maniac as well on Out For Blood, keeping pace from mid-tempo tracks like “Lost It All” through Pantera-paced numbers like “Smackdown”, and finally to the all out frenetic speed of songs like “Out For Blood”.
DiGiorgio, for his part, is still a monster. He’s not as prevalent as on previous releases, but some of the sounds that come out of his bass simply don’t sound like what you would expect. The tones he gets, specifically on “Smackdown”, are uncanny, as is the way some of his basslines are laid in to act almost as a traditional guitar bridge. While the focus ends up being on the individual playing on tracks like this, you can’t help but give these guys major props for sophisticated songwriting patterns instead of taking the easy, three-chord thrash route so many bands of this style adopt.
RATING – 9/10: It’s definitely a good thing that this band is back with a vengeance. Seeing the success that a band like Exodus has had with the releases of Tempo Of The Damned and Shovel Headed Kill Machine, you would like Sadus is entitled the same type of listenership. Musically, they are the better band. It may be thrash for the metal aficionado, but it’s also kick-ass metal for those who just want a sore neck at the end of their listening experience.
Article comments
1 - Guppusmaximus
Excellent Review... Mr. DiGiorgio is phenomonal and hardly gets the credit he deserves just on his work with Death alone. (He also played in Chuck Shuldiner's(RIP) last project Control Denied.)That CD kicked major ass!! Nevermind the fact that he worked with Sean Reinert in Death and Mr. Reinert went on to start Cynic which is an excellent progressive act. In turn, Sean also played with a bassist of Mr. DiGiorgio's caliber,Tony Choy, who played in Atheist after their bass king Roger Patterson died in a vehicle accident while they were returning from a tour.Mr. Reinert also plays with Sean Malone in Cynic who does a project called Gordian Knot whose lineup had Steve Hackett and Bill Bruford. Anyways...I got off track..It's amazing how many phenomonal musicians fly under the radar. I will definately have to make a return to Sadus with this new release. Again, Excellent Review!!