A Vision of Misery

I clearly remember what impression the brutal barrage on “Illusions” produced on me some time in 1989; I guess I wasn’t prepared for this kind of extremity although I did like other examples of near-death thrashy experiences like Exumer’s “Rising from the Sea” and Messiah’s “Hymns to Abramelin”. It’s just that another one added to the fore wasn’t such a big deal in the late-80’s, especially when playing brutally had almost become a norm. The other norm, however, the one where technicality and progression mattered more, seemed to hold more fascination for me, but apparently Sadus were not going to be a part of it…

consequently, I wasn’t very keen on checking out any of their future endeavours, and it was when “Elements of Anger” somehow came into my possession in 1997 that I recalled the Steve DiGiorgio gang. As I liked the “Elements” a lot, since it was one of the more successful adaptations made by 80’s heroes to the new tastes, I decided to lend an ear to the previous two instalments I had missed. Needless to add, I was very pleasantly surprised by what I heard. So “Swallowed in Black” was already a handsome technical affair seeing the guys having chosen the thrash metal path to follow with death metal standing guard here and there. On the album reviewed here the latter has more prominent presence having elevated itself to the rank of “a co-worker” rather than “an assistant”, to astonishing results.

“A Vision of Misery” is rather "a vision of greatness”; it’s the culmination of the US technical/progressive thrash/death metal hybrid that started in the late-80’s, and brought some of the most shining moments on the American metal scene like Vacant Grave’s “Life or Death”, Hellwitch’s “Syzygial Miscreancy”, Atheist’s “Piece of Time”, Revenant’s “Prophecies of a Dying World”, and Incubus’ “Beyond the Unknown”. No wonder after its release this particular blend faded away in the next two years; there wasn’t much more to be done within its scope. DiGiorgio’s involvement with Death may have prompted the shift in style as the Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.) team also boarded the technical/progressive freighter around the same time.

It has to be noted the band members’ unique sense of unity; there have only been four musicians involved in the Sadus roster ever since the band’s inception: DiGiorgio, the guitar player and vocalist Darren Travis, the drummer Jon Allen, and the guitarist Rob Moore who dropped out after this album’s release. It doesn’t take too many musicians to concoct something like that; it only takes a few dedicated individuals with the right skills and vision, definitely not of misery. And here they are, the Four Horsemen of the thrash/death metal apocalypse, riding for the third time which was a most evocative proof of the “third time’s the charm” postulate. “Through the Eyes of Greed” is a wild ride the guys death/thrashing with passion before the intricate riff-patterns start piling up helped by the vicious overpowering bass and the stylish leads; the speedy cannonade is intercepted by clever progressive build-ups which still let it be the dominant voice here. “Valley of Dry Bones” doesn’t let up, and moshes far’n wide the frenetic technical embellishments reaching virtuoso proportions towards the end. At this stage the energy from the previous two efforts is almost intact, and the listener can only be happy with the added complexities which become more prominent on “Machines” with brilliant technical strokes arriving in quick succession, tying knots that are less decipherable than the ones on Death’s “Human” even (the title could be a reference to “Suicide Machine”?); fast-paced escapades are certainly provided, but not in such abundance as the intricate riff-formulas prevail making this piece one of the finest exponents of technical thrash/death metal ever, the swirling rhythm-section recalling pillars like Coroner and Deathrow.

“Slaves to Misery” is a choppy nervy mid-pacer with more dazzling technicality served amidst heavy steam-rolling guitars and sudden more aggressive deathy strides, with Travis pitching it to hellish, hysterical heights racing with the wild roller-coaster accumulations. “Throwing Away the Day” crushes left and right the guys shredding with consummate precision the obligatory speedy dashes disrupting the elaborate puzzles, the resultant symbiosis close to pure chaos due to the frequent, unheralded change of pace. No complains whatsoever as this is a most delightful piece of serious, multifarious metal which goes progressive on “Facelift”, a dramatic atmospheric composition with a covert doomy vibe that gets dissipated by more dynamic additives which keep the bass pretty busy, and also the guitarists in the second half where a supreme vortex of super-technical riffs gets stirred to everyone’s amazement, before a faster-paced sweep wraps it on. “Deceptive Perceptions” flirts with more atmospheric drama initially, and the delivery remains within the mid-paced confines until a brutal dash turns this cut into a furious thrashing melee ala Invocator and Baphomet. “Under the Knife” is a logical continuation of the previous hurricane with a more accentuated deathy edge and loads of supreme complications those even going beyond the two mentioned acts before the marginally more orthodox inauguration of the final “Echoes of Forever” puts an end to this most compelling madness; expect more outstanding virtuoso showdown with a hectic alternation of times and tempos the leads making a really fine showing duelling with the striking riffage for domination, the bass also stealing a few precious moments of playing time to leave an even more memorable trace on this absolute no-brainer alongside a great quiet exit.

DiGiorgio and Co. nailed it here; nailed it to such an extent that it became redundant to play technical thrash/death on US soil, and also around the world, after this masterpiece. All those bands who did try to do that eventually were inevitably compared to this opus here, like Vicious Circle (“Cryptic Void”, 1993), Decision D (“Moratoria”), Canker (“Physical”, 1994), Droys (“And If…”, 1998), etc. Some similarities between it and the Death recordings with DiGiorgio can be detected, but to these ears the guys here have surpassed the other team in terms of mazey arrangements and technical riff-density as again the names of Deathrow (“Deception Ignored”) and Coroner (“Mental Vortex”) should be thrown in as examples of how such elaborate, multi-layered music can be done right with the album reviewed here standing proud right next to them. There isn’t a lot of aggression sacrificed from the previous instalments like some reviews and feedbacks have tried to point out; in fact, the most brutal moments can easily rival most of the material from “Illusions” as they have been applied with an eye on the death metal audience. And yet, the technical/progressive thrash fans will make sense out of this saga for most of the time as they’ll be totally absorbed in the supreme rifforamas and the surreal time and tempo shifts for which they will need more than just one listen in order to appreciate them fully.

It was a cycle closed for the band as there was literally nowhere next to conquer after it. Besides, the times were hardly ripe for more classic technical thrash exploits; the numetal vogues demanded sacrifices, stirring waves of anger within the old school brotherhood until five years later when our friends were back with the aptly-titled “Elements of Anger”, a modern thrash masterpiece that was quite a different animal from the album here, focusing on more labyrinthine, more meandering ways of execution with less flashy fretwork. The modern trends had taken their toll, but there was nothing even close to annoying groovy banality as the band had found the right way again to entertain the masses by sounding both relevant and loyal to their roots. Alas, there was no immediate follow-up as the Sadus team packed it up for a second time.

Although the main reason for the gigantic gap between the band’s last two instalments was DiGiorgio’s very busy schedule getting involved with half the metal constellation, one may blame the others for not pricking him more insistently for more regular Sadus appearances. With just five albums for a period of nearly 30 years, the guys shouldn’t have pondered over their status as “a side dish” rather than “a main course”. On top of that on “Out for Blood” they decided to pay tribute to the 90’s vogues in the midst of the resurrection campaign thus condemning themselves to more indefinite stretches of oblivion almost instantly. This last coming was a pretty decent modern technical thrash affair coming close at times to the calculated precision of its predecessor, but sadly failed to respond to the demands of the more fastidious 00’s audience.

And that was it; the last stop from the Sadus train, the once glorious creators of “A Vision of Misery”; a vision that compelled them to reach the top of the metal Olympus, and one that kept the train rolling and rattling unfazed through anger, hiatuses, and many other illusory impediments.