SADUS — Swallowed in Black (review)

SADUS — Swallowed in Black album cover Album · 1990 · Technical Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Swallowed in Black" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Sadus. The album was released through R/C Records in September 1990. Sadus were formed in 1984 and released their debut full-length studio album "Illusions" in 1988. The lineup who recorded the debut album is intact on "Swallowed in Black".

Stylistically Sadus continues the aggressive thrash metal style they played on "Illusions (1988)". Darren Travis (vocals, guitars) has a caustic snarling delivery, that when it´s not über aggressive, is close to hysteria. The band predominantly play fast...really fast, but they do lower the speed for limited periods of time, which makes the music slightly more varied than what initial listens may reveal. It´s overall not that varied though, and I´d go as far as to call it one-dimensional. Some tracks stand out (like the two short ones "Last Abide" and "In Your Face"), but when you get half way through the album, it gets hard to tell the tracks apart. It does become a minor issue, but not an overshadowing one.

The music features many tempo changes, breaks, and little details, which occasionally reach jaw dropping levels, but the band are very well playing and execute the fairly technical thrash metal to perfection. Especially drummer Jon Allen and bassist Steve DiGiorgio deserve mentions for their contributions. The latter is on fire all the way through the album with some very busy fretwork not usually heard from bassists in the genre. He has a very dominant role in the soundscape. Also because of the rather thin sounding rhythm guitars, which often take second seat to the bass.

"Swallowed in Black" is actually an album that´s a bit hard to rate, because it´s absolutely fantastic in some ways (expecially the musicianship is quite astonishing), but the rather one-dimensional take on composition and lack of immediate hooks make the album seem much longer than it´s 44:34 minutes, and that of course drags in a more negative direction. So while I really want to award this one with a 4 star (80%) rating, there are simply too many flaws for me to justify such a high rating and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is more appropriate.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Besra – Unsullied (Music Video)
BESRA
Bosh66· 12 hours ago
Tethered - Breathe (Official Video)
TETHERED
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Walking The Blade (OFFICIAL VISUALIZER)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - The Negative (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Drowning feat. Taylor Barber (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed