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Sabbat > Fetishism > Reviews
Sabbat - Fetishism

Long live West! - 85%

Colonel Para Bellum, February 10th, 2020
Written based on this version: 2017, CD, Fallen-Angels Productions (Reissue, Limited edition)

"Fetishism" is a "Western" work predominantly. A thrash metal work. The first song "Disembody to the Abyss" immediately sets the tone for the album, presenting thrash metal, performed according to the Teutonic patterns mostly. To the US ones too (East Coast thrash metal, more likely), of course, so in general, – according to the Western patterns. And further, in almost every song, you can recognize the European or American "source", which served as an inspiration. It is not a question of a cut-and-paste job, "Fetishism" is some kind of an artistic rendering: Sabbat present their vision of Western music, i. e. thrash metal.

For example, in the slow part of the third song "Satan Is Beautiful", the Venom influence is heard, the evident influence – both in music and vocals. The sixth song "Lost in the Grave", as well as the eighth "Ghost Train" have traces of the influence of Mercyful Fate / King Diamond – this is more noticeable in the vocal part, while the Sabbat music is nevertheless more baleful than the music of these Danish bands.

Yes, needless to say, the Sabbat music is really aggressive and rigorous, but at the same time it's not without melodism. Both distinctive features are organically intertwined in a high-speed attack, and this gives glare individuality to the sound. Another distinctive feature of Sabbat is their frequent and diverse solos, there are plenty of them on the "Fetishism" album, but mostly they are classical for thrash metal, nothing out of the way, they're in the German style, although the American one is often recognized.

However, sporadically elements appear on this album that are clearly inspired by traditional Japanese music. Well, to an uninitiated ear at least. For example, the beginning of the aforementioned "Satan Is Beautiful". And in the fourth song "Sausine", an instrumental, the part of the solo guitar approaches to what can be designated as the unparalleled Sabbat sound: in the slightly dissonant solo some traditional melody is discerned. It appears, this is one time exercise, but such an uniqueness will manifest itself in all its glory in the future. The track itself is gradually becoming more complex in structure and technique and spinning like a flywheel – an amazing composer's find. In the last tenth song, "Possessed the Room (Kanashibari)", the solo is also a curtsy in the direction of traditional values, but the Western manner still dominates. Like on the whole album.

Sabbat are experimenting here not only with their native music (or what can be taken for it). The fifth song "Elixier de Vie" is sustained in a doom-ish style, which is uncharacteristic for them – in general, a very phlegmatic composition. It's decorated with near-howling female vocals, and in the finale the harpsichord echoes the main riff – the effect of this musical technique is stupendous, especially considering that the harpsichord part is becoming more complex as it unwinds. The seventh song "Burn the Church" can also be called experimental in structure and the riffs, but it is not as charming as "Elixier de Vie". Its hallmark is almost death metal-ish vocals.

Black metal? Well, if Venom and Mercyful Fate are considered as black metal, then, of course, Sabbat also performs black metal. But if you leave the named bands in the heavy metal niche, then Sabbat exclusively perform thrash metal, and nothing more. Some rare exceptions do not mean at all that this genre is the main for the band. For example, in the very first song "Disembody to the Abyss" a tremolo riff at 1:47 (and it repeats later) sounds like Norwegian black metal. There are also a lot of black metal passages (more precisely, those passages that today are associated with Scandinavian black metal) in "Burn the Church" – after all, the title obliges. But all these elements are just drowning in a massive thrash metal attack.

Bonus (10-12) tracks taken from "The Seven Deadly Sins" 7" EP (1990). Well, here Sabbat are farther away from what they eventually became – this is rather ordinary thrash metal. Somewhere mid-tempo, somewhere fast, but ordinary anyway. There are no remarkable solos, and the only virtue of this material is that it is in the vein of Sodom sometimes. And, anger and aggression of course, this can not be taken away from Sabbat.

Surprisingly nuanced material - 79%

Noktorn, January 25th, 2011

Everyone seems to kind of like Sabbat, but I don't think they're really appreciated enough, or some of the most amazing details of their existence are being glossed over. Everyone knows that Sabbat's been around basically forever, but does anyone really get that Sabbat released four album from 1991-1994? Professional, quality full-lengths while Mayhem and company were still struggling to get their acts together. And yet Sabbat still seems to be 'that one band with all the live albums' rather than being seen as possibly THE progenitors of black metal in Japan, as well as one of the earliest, most prolific, and most enduring artists of the late '80s/early '90s black metal scene. Yes, in all fairness, Sabbat never truly adopted the full-fledged second wave sound, always opting for a thrashier take on the style, but the band's intent is so clear on these records- to make black metal as they picture it- that it hardly seems to matter whether they neatly fall into the genre's box or not.

Sabbat, in some ways, are a continuation of a sort of dead-end style of black metal that emerged at the end of the '80s- that is, the bands that were still heavily influenced by Venom and other, more traditional artists while reaching for what they considered black metal. 'Fetishism' in particular is one of their thrashier, less overtly experimental releases; the black metal is subdued and present more in the melodic ideas employed in the riffs than the delivery- in short, you won't be hearing blast beats and rasps. What you will here is a very primordial form of black/thrash heavily influenced by bands like Venom and Mercyful Fate. Sabbat seems to take joy in the sort of theatrical performances of traditional, epic heavy metal bands, and it bleeds through clearly on this album, be it in Gezol's alternately rasping and falsetto wailing vocal performance or in the amateurish but lovingly composed keyboard melodies of Temis. I think the band has a little humor about themselves- Gezol knows that his falsetto isn't very good, but he wants to do a falsetto and by god no one's going to stop him.

As to the more overt black metal influence: it's subtle but most certainly there. 'Burn The Church' could be a forgotten Mayhem track from way back in the day (albeit slower than most), but apart from that you'll mostly hear it in the rather dark, brooding, somewhat gothic riffing style on display, which creates a nice contrast with the thrashy rhythmic delivery. I think that what makes Sabbat so good to listen to, though, is that though they're doing fast, intense, thrashy music, they're never afraid to switch it up and expand the songs with a patient sense of pacing, the occasional curious lead guitar break, or even the (admittedly somewhat dated) cheap synth patches. Despite the apparent simplicity of Sabbat's music, especially on this album, careful listening shows a band who have clearly done massive work on creating enduring, unique songs, filled with small variations, subtle rhythmic interplay, and clever guitarwork that are all somewhat hidden by the barbarism of the sound itself.

I'm not a particularly diehard Sabbat fan, but I do think that 'Fetishism' is an incredibly consistent and surprisingly nuanced black/thrash album. Really learning Sabbat just necessitates checking out their full-lengths (all those silly splits and live albums are just for obsessive fans), and this is as good of one as any to start with.