It's the Sickness

Ever since the release of Sadus's Out for Blood in 2006 proved to be a letdown, their fans have been eagerly awaiting new material that would hopefully serve as a comeback. That wait came to a grinding halt on November 18th, 2022. Sadus unleashed this absolute beast of a single and satisfied many metal maniacs. Now, the big question is "What's coming next from Sadus?" Perhaps a new EP or even a new album. Either of which would adequately fill the now 17 year gap since Sadus's last major release, and I hope this single acts as a teaser of what's yet to come.

"It's the Sickness" is a total blast from the past for Sadus. It combines aspects from their death/thrash era as well as their tech thrash era. Darren Travis's vocals have aged very well. He can still belt out screams as high as those found on Illusions (later retitled to Chemical Exposure) and constantly upholds the raspy shrieking vocals he's known for. His riffing has definitely improved since the release of Out for Blood. There's a fine balance of chug, groove, intricacy, and speed within this song's riffs that would appeal to fans of the albums Illusions and Elements of Anger. Jon Allen's drumming on this song mainly consists of the typical drum beats found in thrash metal. There are the occasional fills as well as use of double bass drumming during the song's fastest moments. The drumming may not be extravagant, but it binds everything together like liquid cement.

It's currently unknown who played bass on this song. Steve DiGiorgio did not return to Sadus after the band reformed in 2017 (Sadus initially disbanded in 2015), and his absence has not gone unnoticed. My biggest gripe with "It's the Sickness" is that the bass guitar is buried in the mix. That was not the case for the albums Steve played on, and it most likely wouldn't have been the case for this song if he played on it. The signature sound of his fretless bass is impossible to bury in the mix. For any future Sadus releases, I hope the band gets a bassist whose skill level is on par with that of Steve DiGiorgio, and I hope the bass is noticeable in the mix.

"It's the Sickness" is exactly how Out for Blood should've sounded: a vibrant & engaging technical death/thrash metal riff-o-rama. Despite this, a new release from a band that seems to be a massive improvement from an underwhelming album published over a decade ago is sure to get fans excited for more. Once again, I hope this single is a teaser for more new music from Sadus in the future.