Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Sadus - Illusions (1988)

The album that allegedly got the band signed to Roadrunner after shifting some 7,000 copies is to all intent and purpose pure unadulterated violence. Now, I will not go off and join my peers on the site in lavishing praise on Illusions. In fact, I will highlight that this is some sloppy sounding thrash metal even by late 80’s standards. Yes, I get that this is a massive part of the appeal and I enjoy some raw and energetic thrash / proto-death metal as much as the next man or woman, the fact is though that there are a couple of major distractions on the sound on some tracks here.

The drums start to sound like claps as album opener Certain Death gets to around halfway through, just for a few moments, not for the entire track thereafter but nonetheless I find this off-putting and sort of ruins the start of the album for me. I am also not convinced that the band had their timing correct for all the tracks. Granted it is so ridiculously fast and has the pacing of a jet engine that you hardly notice but when the band get to a less high tempo pace and go a little more industrious (not technical - more on that in a minute) is where the cracks do start to show. I will put this down to the maturity levels of the band and this being their first full-length and will also caveat that when they are on point – which at times they are – they are unstoppable. I am thinking some of this is also down to the over-reliance on DiGiorgio and his bass which I am nearly sure causes flux in the rhythm and timing on more than one occasion.

This “technical” tag bothers me that I see get associated with the release also. The fact that this album has a heavy bass presence does not mean that this is a technical thrash metal record. I see DiGiorgio’s input as being almost a third guitar – most certainly a second rhythm guitar that makes the frenetic pace sound a lot meatier than it would otherwise. You could argue it gets all proggy on the opening bars to the title track but again this does not make it technical, just well-played.

Sadus’ debut is not for me in all honesty. As much as there are principles of thrash metal here that I would largely praise and defend in most circumstances, Illusions does precisely as the meaning of the title suggests and tries to distract away from its issues with pure speed and violence and it just does not work for me.