Illusions

I consider myself to be a pretty mellow metal guy. I've never really seen an album which makes me scream "FUCKING THRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHHH", or tell people that their pussies for not liking it, or think that it can promote testicle growth. But there is one exception, and that is Sadus' Chemical Exposure. Sadus' debut is simply the most badass album ever written. I've heard a lot of quality thrash albums over the years, and I've loved them immensely, but this is basically the only one which has brought me to a state of insanity and rage which actually alters my state of mind significantly. All the cheesy review lines of how an album can kick your ass and rape your mother apply here. And they're true. I swear, exposing this album to an infant will bring on puberty instantaneously.

Everything about this album is damaging. The guitars are faster than a STD travelling through a third world country, the drumming is violent and pounding, with a range of primitive, thrashy blast beats being launched out of the band at all times. An audible bass backing up the crushing guitar work, and vocals which are vicious and deranged. The songs are fantastically written, each giving a display of both fast as hell thrashing and slightly slowed down crushing sections.

This album basically flawless, it's a short burst of hectic thrash at it's most violent. It's only 29 minutes long, that’s including a 3 minute outro consisting of nothing, just a few little noises, it's not a song as such. But I'll be damned if those 26 minutes of music aren't amongst the best ever written. The first thing that you'll notice is of course the sheer aggression that this album holds, it's fast, and even during the slower sections the guitars are still slaying faster than few bands could dream of. But the key to this absurd speed is that the riffs are actually good. Not just good, these riffs are catchy well written technical thrash, with an added dose of pissed off attitude. And then you have the solos, which are kind of a mix between Slayer solos and talent. So it sounds really fucking nasty, whilst still consisting of some difficult to play shit.

When it comes to drumming, there were few better in the thrash scene. It's hectic, fast, and as brutal a piece of thrash drumming you'll here. There's thrash beats, blast beats, and like the guitars, amidst it's overwhelming brutality it's also quite technical.

Then of course you have the mighty Steve DiGiorgio. His sound is huge, the guitars hardly weak, but the bass still shines through with blistering speed, precision, and still musical writing. Honestly, Steve has got to be up near the top of my bass players list, and this is him at his best.

And of course, you've got the vocals. Darren sounds evil, I guess his vocals could be considered death metal vocals, but only in the sense that they sort of sound like Chuck Shauldiner at quadruple speed. Very fast, very gritty screamed vocals. Then you have his bigger vocals, which show up in "Torture" most notably, with a huge shriek which actually kicks ass. So add Darren Travis to my vey small list of vocalists who can shriek and still sound badass.

The production is actually very impressive, the guitars have a mean sound, quite thick and very audible, the bass is very loud and I am thankful for that, not to mention that they both sound very clear, and it's easy to hear what's being played. I cannot thank the producer enough, because a muddy production would hurt an album with guitars this fast more than you could imagine. The drums are pretty clear other than the bass drum, which is very quiet, but maybe that’s just because I'm used to triggers. Damn this modern age, we're spoilt.

The songs are pretty varied; there are a couple of lengthier tracks, which offer a plethora of tempo changes and riffs. You have the more standard Sadus length song, a little over 2 minutes long, also consisting of a range of tempos, but tends to pick one and stick with it. And then you have these songs that are under 2 minutes, and serve as short bursts of insanity. Carrying insane thrashers like "Sadus Attack" at full speed for their duration.

Everything is pretty similar, but none of the boring songs are much over 2 minutes, so it doesn't hurt too much. Basically, there's five flawless songs at the start, "Certain Death", "Undead", "Sadus Attack", "Torture", and "And You Die". The rest of the album is pretty similar to "Torture", just a little more midpaced, which would usually still be awesome, but look at it's competition. Another thing that hurts is the only song that really tried to take majorly different directions is "Hands Of Fate", so after that song's over the album doesn't reach the heights of what came before it again, "Fight or Die" is pretty friggen fast though, for some reason it just sounds like rehashed ideas. It's only like 8 and half minutes of slightly below perfect material, but it's a noticeable drop nonetheless.

On a slightly un-related note, I'm not sure what the hell is wrong with this guys on naming the album. First go round they named it after one of the least inspired songs, and then on the second go they named after a pointless outro with no riffs in it.

As for the whole 'sounds like slayer' thing, don't be bullshitted. This is far more brutal than Slayer ever was. There's a few Slayer-esque sections, such as Hands of Fate, which sounds exactly like Slayer during the beginning, but tell me that Undead or Sadus Attack are Slayer rip offs. All that's in common here is the fact that they write songs that are around 2 minutes long, and can do a dozen songs in about half an hour. There's not all that much in common when it comes to the music.

Sadus have put out one extreme thrash album, by far the most brutal thrash album I've heard, but the key is the songs are actually well written with good riffs. These guys know how to play, and the fact they can play it at the speeds they can is just a bonus. You have to buy this if you see it, rob a house for it, I don't care, you need this album.