Illusions

It puzzles me a little how I always associate Steve DiGiorgio with Sadus despite the fact that he's played bass in about a million other bands, and yet I can name none of the other members who contributed to the pretty famous debut Illusions. Also, considering how DiGiorgio became maybe the name for technical death metal bass playing (largely due to his mastery of the fretless variety he touted so often), the only comment I can make initially about his performance here is that he's fast. But that's a silly comment, because if Illusions proved anything, all the pertinent points related to speed. Indeed, for anyone who thought 'Necrophobic' seemed a little pedestrian on Reign in Blood, this quartet will be right up your alley, utilizing raw speed almost excessively and concluding the 10 track album in the expectedly brief 29 minutes. In my view, raw speed isn't quite as bad as raw onion, though both are equally difficult to mix with other elements and can make your eyes water. That's the kind of effect Sadus have on me.

Naturally, a lot of the fame of Illusions relates to it constituting one of the stepping stones between thrash and death metal, which was only just emerging in 1988. By reducing much of the conventional musicality that thrash possessed in its grooves, tasteful momentum, and elaborate soloing, Sadus were on the edge of the precipice, even if most of these songs just sound like really fast thrash that rarely considers tremolo over down-picking. I get the same feel when I listen to Pleasure to Kill, that these guys simply wanted to play faster and thus had to resort to other techniques than the standard thrash riffs when the intensity reached bursting point. The vocals do the same, Darren Travis barking out most of the lyrics in a snarling voice that reminds me of Sacred Reich's Phil Rind due to the speed he needs to enunciate, then breaking into a shredding scream when that pedestrian humanity feels insufficient. Therefore, I don't really call Illusions a death metal album, even if the chaotic noise-burst solos and often non-linear song structures demand me to make some concessions.

As I said, the largest point to discuss is the raw speed. The sequence of riffs that blaze out from the feedback introduction of 'Certain Death' does include a mid-paced passage that grooves a little, and several songs make use of the same technique; however, we are speaking of an album that spends 70% of its time at a pace faster than anything Sodom or Exodus or Forbidden ever thought of writing. Satisfying to say, the riffs can be distinguished from one another when I make some effort to discern the patterns, and the drums offer a bit of variety and a thankfully forgiving position in the mix, otherwise headaches would be inevitable and boredom might set in. In fact, the sparkling melodic introduction of 'Undead' highlights how much of a classic heavy metal sound the album actually has, which therefore rumbles the prominent bass, toms, and kick drums down the bottom when at racing speed, from which Travis's vocals stand out due to his mid-ranged style, while the riffing blurs a bit by contrast. I suppose what keeps the speed and aggression fresh comes down to how Sadus manipulate the song structures to disguise the advent of feisty double-kick sections or, equally often, to build up to them with typical thrash cymbal grabs. That and the zillion riffs on each song, probably.

However, most interesting of all are the moments when Illusions shirks its status as an extreme thrash or proto-death listen. 'Chemical Exposure' quite obviously can't be called a song when it consists of mutilated feedback and effects, yet the soundscape it paints accords much better with the reality of radiation sickness and nuclear aftermath than a fast, shouty cut would. Couple that with 'Sadus Attack' - yes, the 100 second song - opening in dreary doomy style and we actually have some atmosphere to surround the impulsive terror that the other numbers represent. I'm surprised also by the instances when Sadus opt for actually less extreme styles that suit themselves to the speed onslaught, such as the rising repetitions of the riff near the end of 'Torture' (where DiGiorgio gets a bass solo), which could almost be an Iron Maiden song played by a band with seconds to live, or the similarly classic-sounding long jam at the opening of 'Undead'. To whit, 'Hands of Fate' returns to that Lightning Maiden trick, hanging around for longer than 'Torture'.

The only problem with such a formula as Sadus's can be found when trying to recall parts of the album. Most of the details from the previous paragraph could probably be brought to mind, yet the songs that simply maintain the "tearing your throat out" sound, such as 'Twisted Face' or 'And Then You Die' fail to make much impact beyond the very obvious impression of their arrival. Of course, leaving the album brief was for the best, but you can't act surprised about Sadus changing the formula for the subsequent Swallowed in Black to incorporate longer songs and varied ideas. All the same, even the plainer thrashing moments of Illusions would be well worth spending some time with, particularly the title track and 'Certain Death', both of which rage like Kreator eating Slayer, slam the mid-paced grooves like Sodom, and reach into the fury of proper death metal a couple of times too. What's more, despite all the speed and rather average mix, the Californian foursome knew how to handle their instruments perfectly well, so there's no sloppiness to contend with. All in all, a fearsome debut album that was certainly worth doing once.