Band: Sadus

Title: Illusions / A Vision Of Misery

Label: Displeased Records

Distribution: Displeased Records

Release date: February 2008

Review: re-release - CD + bonus-DVD

In 1984, four high school friends started jamming together and called their band Sadus . At that moment, they couldn't know that they would belong to the protagonists of the worldwide extreme Metal scene. Those youngsters were: Rob Moore , Steve Di Giorgio , Darren Travis and Jon Allen . Indeed, in mean time all of them, except for Rob probably, have become extremely ‘big' names in the scene. The demo tapes DTP ( Death To Posers ) and Certain Death (resp. 1986 and 1987) and their contribution on the 1987 Raging Death -sampler established Sadus ' name in the underground scene, and Roadrunner Records , one of the most important labels back then in the extreme Metal scene, gets in touch with this band. In 1988 the band records Illusions with Metal Church 's John Marshall as producer, followed by Swallowed In Black in 1990. The band's third album, A Vision Of Misery , will see the light in 1992 and was produced, engineered and mixed by Bill Metoyer , who is also known from his work with, for example, Dark Angel , Slayer , Flotsam & Jetsam , Six Feet Under and Sacred Reich . The importance of these three first Sadus -releases cannot be underestimated, because they might reach the importance on the scene along with bands as, let's say, Slayer , Metallica , Possessed , Testament , Exodus and Anthrax (this is a list that cannot be fully completed, of course). And after many years of hard-to-findness , Dutch label Displeased Records re-releases the re-issued versions of those three albums, after signing a multi-album licence with Roadrunner (a contract that also includes other older recordings), including bonus material. Illusions comes with both demo tapes, D.T.P. and Certain Death , and the video clip of the title song from the latter - indeed, those demo tapes might be even more ‘basic necessity' for the scene. Swallowed In Black , which, by the way, wasn't in the package Displeased send to our head quarters, comes with the Wake Of Severity demo and the video clip of Good Rid'nz , and A Vision Of Misery includes a bonus-DVD with live material (New York, 1990 and Oakland, 1992) and behind the scenes material. I guess it is evident that all fans of the old school may get an almost orgiastic feeling, so it's up to you!

--/100

Ivan Tibos.