The legendary Sadus is back.
Between 1985 and 2015, the American band released five albums, some of which became cult hits for a whole generation of Death/Thrash Metal fans from the Bay Area and beyond. The announcement of their reformation in 2017 was followed by a period of silence, then Darren Travis (guitar/vocals) and Jon Allen (drums, ex-Dragonlord, ex-Testament) signed up with Nuclear Blast to announce the release of The Shadow Inside, their sixth album, in 2023.
The opening notes of First Blood are strangely soothing, but it doesn’t take long for the onslaught to strike, adopting first catchy Old School tones before becoming much more vivid and complex. Wild vocal parts also invade this aggressive atmosphere, once again showing the sharp influences within the rhythmic riffs, then Scorched And Burnt unveils a heavy sound packed with small acceleration from the drums, coupled with menacing, relatively dark screams. The band returns to a dry groove on It’s The Sickness, with its waves of raw fury that the band releases on a regular basis, whether with blast or crushing double kick, while scattering spikes of technicality before Ride The Knife offers us relatively more progressive violence, which doesn’t fail to explode when the need arises. The track remains fairly long, offering calmer sections before the short Anarchy takes off at full speed, welcoming a deeper voice to accompany the vocalist’s usual screams. The Devil In Me returns to a more moderate speed, while retaining its power, whether in the heady rhythm or the heavier final, before Pain offers us riffs that let harmonics take main place, notably on the long solo that contrasts with the powerful basis. The track remains very coherent before giving way to No Peace and its jerky tones, in which the band doesn’t hesitate to include bloody leads from start to finish, before allowing us a moment’s respite on New Beginnings, an interlude with Prog roots. The eponymous title track, The Shadow Inside, closes the album with its meticulous approach and cutting-edge elements, a sort of blend of Old School and modern influences that proves to be quite conclusive!
After sixteen years of silence, Sadus is back in top form! Reduced to a duo, the band surprises with The Shadow Inside, which draws as much on its Old School influences as on a technical approach and Prog elements. A pleasant surprise!
85/100