UMUR "Mourning Has Broken" is the third full-length studio album by UK, Nottingham based thrash/heavy metal act Sabbat. The album was released through Noise Records in March 1991. It´s the successor to "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" from 1989 and features several lineup changes since the predecessor. Lead vocalist Martin Walkyier has been replaced by Ritchie Desmond, guitarist Simon Jonas has been replaced by Neil Watson, and bassist Fraser Craske has been replaced by Wayne Banks, leaving only guitarist Andy Sneap and drummer Simon Negus from the lineup who recorded the predecessor.

Some artists are able to successfully replace band members and carry on as if nothing had happened, or at least with minimal impact, and even in some cases with an improved sound as a result of the lineup changes, but none of the above apply to Sabbat on "Mourning Has Broken". Especially the change on the lead vocalist spot has had great impact. Not only did Walkyier have a distinct sounding voice and vocal style, but his lyrics and pagan image, were a big part of Sabbat, and although Desmond is actually a skilled vocalist with a strong voice, who generally does a good job on "Mourning Has Broken", he has a hard time bringing anything resembling Walkyier´s intensity and uniqueness to the table.

"Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" introduced some longer and more complex compositions, compared to the material on the debut album, but on "Mourning Has Broken", Sabbat fully enters progressive territories, and the music on the album can best be described as a technical thrash/progressive metal release with touches of US power metal. Although some may argue it´s not the best comparison, I actually think Confessor is the most valid reference when describing the sound of "Mourning Has Broken". There´s a similar high pitched, bleak, and toneless quality to the vocal style of Desmond, and although not quite as technical or innovative as Confessor are, Sabbat still come off as a pretty technically well playing act on "Mourning Has Broken" (Negus do seem a bit out of his league here though, and the drumming has a tendency to sound a little stiff and awkward). At times I´m also reminded of an act like Sanctuary.

With the departure of Walkyier out goes the pagan/occult lyrics too, and "Mourning Has Broken" focuses more on bleak (even depressive) social/political/religious issues/topics/observations. This is a dark and heavy release filled to the brim with gloom and despair at the state of the world.

"Mourning Has Broken" features a sound production which is not up to par with what you´d expect from a production from 1991. There´s something wrong with the tone of the instruments (especially the drums) and how they are placed in the mix. Ultimately it´s just not a pleasant sounding production job, and even if the remaining parts of the album (performances, songwriting...etc.) were of a high quality, the sound production would still have a negative influence on my overall impression of the album. The performances and the songwriting are however not at all times of a high quality, and especially the songwriting seems directionless and lacking hooks. Sneap himself has in interviews called the songwriting patchy and said that the tracks were thrown together, and that´s also the feeling you get as a listener, when giving the album a spin (some tracks are decent while others suffer more as a consequence of the patchy songwriting).

When that is said I still think "Mourning Has Broken" is a relatively interesting album. It´s not a great album nor is a particularly memorable release, and it´s questionable if the decision to release the album under the Sabbat monicker was a good one, but there´s still something intriguing about the band´s ability to create a bleak atmosphere, and there are also some really sharp and powerful riffs and lead guitar work featured here. As mentioned above Desmond isn´t as unique a vocalist as Walkyier, but he can hold his own, and his US power metal vocal style (high pitched screaming and deeper and more raw shouting) actually suits the material pretty well. So bad sounding production and patchy songwriting, but predominantly great musicianship and a nicely bleak atmosphere are what characterize "Mourning Has Broken". A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK, Nottingham based thrash/heavy metal act Sabbat. The album was released through Noise Records in May 1989. It´s the successor to "History of a Time to Come" from 1988 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as Simon Jones has been added as the band´s second guitarist, making Sabbat a five-piece on this release.

"Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" is a concept release, featuring a story based on the 1983 book by British psychologist Brian Bates: "The Way of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer". It´s a story about a Christian missionary named Wat Brand who travels from northern England to the southern part of the country to learn about the pagan ways of the southern Anglo-Saxons and thereby determine the best way in which they can be converted to Christianity. The mission fails as Brand loses his soul and is transported to the spirit world to recover it. Here he is confronted with his soul (who is female), who teaches him the way of the Wyrd (a Pagan understanding of life) and self-discovery.

Stylistically the music on "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" is a continuation of the raw thrash/heavy metal style of "History of a Time to Come (1988)". The material are generally a bit more sophisticated though and occasionally even featuring a slight progressive edge, so while the basic elements of the band´s sound are similar to what they produced on the predecessor, there has been great development of the details of the core sound. "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" in many ways sounds like the mature version of "History of a Time to Come (1988)".

The musicianship is stronger, the sound production is better sounding, and the songwriting more adventurous. The folk influenced acoustic "Advent of Insanity" is a testimony to the new more diverse songwriting direction, although most material on the album are still thrash/heavy metal styled energetic rockers. The execution of the music is a bit sharper but still with a raw organic edge. Lead vocalist Martin Walkyier often sings a lot of words in a short amount of time, which makes him sound like an aggressive little goblin, and while that at times does sound slightly comical, it actually works pretty well and adds a kind of fairytale/magic touch to the music. An atmopshere which go well hand in hand with the band´s general image and the music/lyrics featured on "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)".

"Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" is upon conclusion an interesting sophomore album by Sabbat and definitely a step up from the sometimes slightly primitive and raw debut. Although the songwriting is a lot more sophisticated this time around, "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays)" is still an aggressive and raw thrash/heavy metal release with an epic scale concept story. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "History of a Time to Come" is the debut full-length studio album by UK, Nottingham based thrash/heavy metal act Sabbat. The album was released through Noise Records in April 1988. Sabbat were formed in 1984 by lead vocalist Martin Walkyier and bassist Frazer Craske under the Hydra monicker. When the original guitarist and drummer left and guitarist Andy Sneap and drummer Simon Negus joined, the band changed their name to Sabbat. After rehearsing and writing material for about a year, Sabbat recorded the "Fragments of a Faith Forgotten" demo in 1986. The demo eventually led to the band being signed to Noise Records.

Stylistically the material on the 9 track, 46:27 minutes long album feature a raw, organic heavy metal sound with occasional thrash metal leanings. The music is actually a bit hard to label although Sabbat are typically labelled a thrash metal act. To my ears there are just as many traditional heavy metal elements on the album, and I definitely don´t think of "History of a Time to Come" as a 100% pure thrash metal release. In many ways the album is very "old school" in sound and execution, from the songwriting, to the performances, to the sound production. It definitely doesn´t sound like a 1988 release.

Raw heavy metal/thrash metal riffs, pounding drums and bass, and the raw vocals by Martin Walkyier in front. One of the interesting things about "History of a Time to Come" are the lyrics, which are quite cleverly written. It´s an album where the quality is decent throughout, but it seldom reaches excellent territory. But fans of traditional heavy metal/thrash metal hybrids are advised to give it a listen. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

siLLy puPPy In the world of metal music there were two bands called SABBAT, and both very respected with many similarities and many differences. The first SABBAT to form was the Japanese band form Kuwana, Japan however although the band was founded as far back as 1983, that SABBAT wouldn’t release any material until their debut album emerged in 1991. This other SABBAT which formed two years later in 1985 was from Nottingham, England and was the first of these two bands to release an album. This debut HISTORY OF A TIME TO COME emerged in 1988, three years before the Japanese SABBAT so therefore this could rightfully mean that this SABBAT wins!

Both band’s name is derived from the Pagan witch’s ritual that refers to a gathering of practitioners who perform witchcraft and other rituals and this British SABBAT was certainly enamored with such themes and crafted three albums around them before splitting up only six years after they began. While thrash metal isn’t the bailiwick of English bands emerging in the 1980s, SABBAT was considered one of the big four of the thrash metal scene which also included Acid Reign, Onslaught and Xentrix but out of all these bands i’d pick SABBAT any day as the most original of the entire British thrash metal scene.

While the band only released three albums, each is quite different with this debut HISTORY OF A TIME TO COME the most rooted in traditional 80s thrash metal magic. This first lineup included the guitar riff attacks of Andy Sneap, bassist Frazer Craske, drummer Simon Negus and the band’s most original aspect which came in the form of vocalist Martin Walkyier who not only delivered some outstandingly wicked sounding vocal performances somewhat in the vein of Annihilator but was also the main contributor of the Pagan lyrical themes that ultimately proved to be to much for the other band members who slowly exited the scene and ultimately ensured a short shelf life for SABBAT. Despite all this chaos, SABBAT remains one of the pinnacles of the British thrash metal scene.

There are a few elements that make HISTORY OF A TIME TO COME a riveting 80s thrash metal experience. First of all the band really knew how to create excellent thrash metal music with catchy melodic hooks that found the instrumentation of guitars, bass and drums in perfect unison but what really set this band apart from virtually every other were the brilliant lyrics and distinct vocals of lead singer Martin Walkyler who not only endowed SABBAT with a timeless popularity that will continue to eternity but continued with his next band Skyclad which was pivotal in crafting some of the first folk metal. Walkyler’s vocals were quite unique as he was able to capture that thrash metal vocal style perfectly and provided the optimal center figure for the music to wrap itself around.

This album brilliantly begins with an intro with all kinds of sound effects that set the tone before the thrash metal bombast begins. This is a very melodic early metal experience where all of the instrumentation supports an overall melodic construct and in that department SABBAT excels with one catchy track after another but also delivers in the ferocity of the cutting edge contemporary metal artists of the day. The album is extremely clever in how everything is placed. For example the intro of “For Those Who Died” begins with a spoken word dialogue that features a judge asking “How do you plead” while the plaintiff responds “Not guilty” which repeats and fades out while the judge saying guilty fades in. Oh, and did i mention those fucking kickass vocals? Geez, those are the first thing you’ll notice about this album and also the very aspect that will keep you coming back for more!

SABBAT’s three albums are very different from each other but this is the one that captures the pure essence of early thrash metal and one of my favorite examples in the entire genre. Everything just works here so well. The lyrics are intelligently designed, the musicianship is excellent and the melodic constructs are instantly addictive. Whether you subscribe to Pagan lyrics or not is beside the point as well. Walkyier’s lyrics are utterly brilliant in how he conveys his message. While not perfect, this is definitely one of my favorite 80s metal albums and although this second SABBAT album “Dreamweaver” seems to get more love, it’s this one that i return to the most.

Warthur To a certain extent, which of Sabbat's excellent first two albums you prefer comes down to a matter of pure taste. For my part, I prefer the debut, which mixed in the band's serious neopagan interests with campier Hammer Horror-style moments, but for those who thought that History of a Time to Come's sillier moments spoiled the mood, Dreamweaver might be the better bet. A more sober exploration of English paganism than its predecessor, the album continues to feature the technical thrash of the debut in a bit more of a polished and less rough around the edges format. Decent stuff, and certainly if you liked the debut you should give this one a chance too.