Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Sadus - Illusions (1988)

In my opinion, thrash tastes better as an underground dish, that's part of the appeal of some thrash bands that I'm glad to discover. One of those bands is Sadus, who have made some of the wildest deathly tech-thrash around!

That's right, thrash has reached the ultimate limit of furious velocity! This is the beginning of my review journey from their chaotic debut Illusions (also known as Chemical Exposure) to their swan song-ish album Out for Blood. Darren Travis performs lightning-fast riffs and awesome raw vocals, while Steve Di Giorgio foreshadows his later supreme bass talent. Scream "Slayer" all you want, but with Illusions, Sadus has played some of the fastest, most technical and memorable thrash I've heard in my life.

"Certain Death" begins this album with a cyclic song structure. Then two minutes of thrash greatness awaits in "Undead"...for the first half of the song; the vocals don't come until the second half that's still fast and heavy. "Sadus Attack" is a short b*lls-out attack.

Coming up, "Torture" sounds fitting for this singer's mood. His shrieks pierce your eardrums, reminding me of the black metal style I'm not a fan of, but it fits well for this thrash style. There are times when the bass is more audible than in other songs, especially when dueling with the guitars in the solos. There's another flawless song, "And Then You Die", despite its two-minute length. More technical extreme riffing can be found in "Hands of Fate" inspired by peers Slayer and Kreator.

"Twisted Face" starts with a Jaws theme homage then attacks as one of the fastest tracks here. "Fight or Die" is also often f***ing fast. The title track has the most prevalent slaughter aggression. The ambient outro "Chemical Exposure" (title track for the album's reissue) is unexpected, but you don't care because you're already nicely wiped out.

Regardless of the band's fate, Illusions should not be ignored as probably the fastest and most furious thrash album I've ever heard. If we're rating this by percentage, I would give it 97%; the 3 points taken off are for the mixing quality, but hey, this is Sadus' 80s debut. All minor errors aside, this is a perfect thrash album, like "in your f***ing face" thrash that very few bands executed so greatly. Any fan of Dark Angel, Slayer, or Kreator, should take a break from those bands and listen to this holy grail of thrash!

Favorites: "Undead", "Sadus Attack", "And Then You Die", "Twisted Face", "Illusions"