Review by SilentScream213 for Sabbat (JPN) - Karmagmassacre (2003)

The ever-persistent Sabbat are back again in the big ’03 delivering Blackened Thrash that still sounds fresh out of ’85. And that’s the appeal of Sabbat; a band that consistently delivers a specific sound from a specific era that is never influenced by the modern era even slightly.

That being said, if you’ve heard one Sabbat album, you’ve heard them all, so there’s not much to say. The album is fun, aggressive, energetic. It’s still got Sabbat’s signature Heavy Metal influence, but a bit less so than previous albums, with most tracks falling more squarely in the Blackened Thrash category. Lyrics, delivery, songwriting, same as always… honest to Satan 80’s extreme Metal.

There is only one misstep on this album, and that is the boring and goofy “In League with Devils” which has a tribal drumbeat and a very repetitive, annoying nature. The rest of the songs are extremely fun, bone-crunching, Satan-praising thrashers of dark occultism. “I’m Your Satan” in particular is one of the band’s best tracks, with nonstop Thrash drumming and a particularly sinister delivery overtop the better riffs of the album.

Sabbat had been releasing material very consistently since the mid 80’s if demos are to be included, but unfortunately after this album, their releases became much more sporadic, with full-length albums dropping only once a decade.