Sabbat - Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays) (1989)

England's Sabbat were a band I was very positive were going to conquer the entire fucking planet, so promising was their scathing 1988 debut History of a Time to Come. But in truth, I had developed a connection to them before this, since they released their 7-inch "Blood for the Blood God" flexi-disc in White Dwarf magazine. The band's amazing ability to offer libations to a fictional war gaming deity created an instant attraction, not to mention the song itself kicked some serious ass, a delicious and atmospheric example of 80s black/thrash metal that displayed infinite writing potential and a malicious attitude so uncanny among other extreme metal acts of its day.

As it turns out, neither of these would prove to be the creative peak for the bastards, because their 1989 sophomore effort Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays) somehow managed to trump them all. A concept based on a psychological study: The Way of Wyrd: Tales of An Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer, it further heralded Sabbat's excursion into paganism and witchcraft, without sacrificing their sadistic mockery of the Church and all its hypocrisy. Such was the wit and intelligence of Martin Walkyier, that in just two albums, his band had transformed into something so much more interesting and unique than what nearly any other thrash band in the period were exploring (Voivod the one possible exception). Heady, brilliant and damn near perfect, Dreamweaver has justifiably become a classic in the field, a veritable whirlwind of riffing fortitude, menacing atmosphere and whip-like, devilish, unique vocals.

Those who had exposure to History of a Time to Come were probably not surprised when the bells, crows, wind and spoken narrative of "The Beginning of the End" intro paved the way for "The Clerical Conspiracy", perhaps the ultimate clarion call to warfare for pagan purists and black magicians in all of thrash, an awakening against the follies of the Church. The guitars were not only rapid, belligerent and darkly majestic, but a comfort to the band's existing fanbase: Sabbat hadn't changed much, they'd merely improved. The pace is immediately broken by "Advent of Insanity" (one of the first songs I ever brought to my guitar instructor to learn!), an acoustic piece set against the creaking of broken hulls on some grim shore, Walkyier proving he can sing with as much skill in a cleaner range as his snarling, a precursor to his more enduring and successful career with Skyclad. This track might not be the thrash we are accustomed to, but it's perfect in every way, a somber violin haunting against the backdrop.

A sad lament for travellers held in the hand of fate,
Your future stands upon the prow, your past drowns in the wake.
What chance is there for sanity, when madness takes the helm,
And steers you on a downward spiral to his lonely realm?

Then it's back to business as usual, within the imminent hostility of the next cut: "Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares?" The guitars here are both playful and severe, Walkyier taunting you as if he were suddenly possessed by a host of deviant characters (similar to several tracks on the debut), Sneap's riffing blazing back and forth across the frets like a plague of angels warring across land and sky. "The Best of Enemies" features a killer spoken fix before a carousel of twisted guitars bounce along to Simon Negus' thundering groundwork, melodies soon elevating into the fell glory of a thrashing vanguard. "How Have the Mighty Fallen?", the longest piece on the album, an epic monstrosity that cycles between mid-paced neck breaking volition and blitz bombing acceleration, with an extended bridge breakdown that makes you want to club the nearest cleric or authority into paste, and one of the finer solos Sneap has ever put to record.

"Wildfire" is a personal favorite, launched with a paranoid sheen of broken melody that Walkyier himself leads into the descending guitar cascade over the first half of the double-bass driven verse, all leading to the predictable but amazing chorus at about 1:20. "Mythistory" opens with sauntering bass and a majestic arch of melody similar to what Testament were writing around this time, then progressing through an amazing double harmony over the warlike footwork, and the predictable, final charge into the conflagration of Martin's threatening poetry. The guitar fill at 1:30 is simply genius, scattering the listener with the wind, and riff for riff, it proves one of the most taxing and dynamically satisfying tracks here. Another delicious acoustic piece closes the album, though this time it's an instrumental, "Happy Never After". If you've got the re-issue, though, you'll have a trio of added live tracks: "The Clerical Conspiracy", "Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares?", and "The Best of Enemies", all recorded in East Berlin (different tracks than you'll hear on the Doomsday News III: Thrashing East Live compilation, but all appeared on The End of the Beginning video.

There is one thing that holds Dreamweaver back from a perfect score, and that would be the production. It's dense, furious and surely thrashing, but there's something to the depth that makes my ears struggle a bit in places, and I feel like a few of the riffs might have been lent a greater impact without such an impregnable tone. That said, it's a minor complaint against such a wonderful work, a concept of depth and character that still holds up today as one of the most clever and fiendish of all thrash works, with a remarkable similarity to the black metal that has been spilling out of Europe for decades since. With such a firm grasp on songwriting, stage presence and the occult, it's a wonder Sabbat were not able to reap immense success, but this would be the last album with the classic line-up. A few of the members hired on a new singer and forged onward with the moody and horrible Mourning Has Broken (i.e. 'The Big Mistake'), and fortunately we were treated to years of Walkyier's pagan puns in Skyclad, before they too started to suck. But nothing would ever be quite the same...and it's no joke that the British band's first two albums belong in the annals of legend.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.75/10] (your reckless tongue could be the key, you'll be the first if it breaks free)

http://www.sabbat-uk.com/

Sabbat - Mourning Has Broken (1991)

England's Sabbat were easily one of the most intelligent, ferocious and interesting bands to come out of that country's speed/thrash metal scene, and I regard both History of a Time to Come and Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays) as essential classics for any listener who demands a high level of artistry and songcraft within the confines of the genre. I had been following the band since their flexi-record that came tucked in a White Dwarf gaming magazine, and thoroughly thrilled with each new chapter they were embarking upon...

Until 1991 arrived, and Mourning Has Broken showed up in my shopping bag. This has got to be one of the most stunning and perplexing letdowns I have ever experienced among my favorite metal bands. Sure, bands like Megadeth and Metallica have slacked off and produced albums that far under-perform even this, but at the very least...you could see those failures coming from far away. This was a shock. I always wanted to believe that, despite all the personality and energy of his unique vocals, Sabbat's Martin Walkyier was not the sole force of nature among Sabbat's ranks. Surely, the first two albums were BLOATED with amazing riffs and musicianship. But, as this sad, third effort proves, without Walkyier, the band simply could not survive. How does the band suddenly decide that this Ritchie Desmond, while not having a necessarily awful voice of his own accord, is a suitable replacement for Martin's serpentine hiss and hellhound punditry?

Desmond's vocals are honestly pretty strange for the band. For most of the verses, he has a rather mid-range, angry tone, but he's just as often attempting a higher pitch that reminds me of Fates Warning's vocalist Ray Alder mixed with a little of Helstar's James Rivera. Just as soothing, but not as high, and usually appearing during the various segues of clean guitars that feel just as out of place on a Sabbat record. In fact, Mourning Has Broken seems a lot like Sabbat are trying to write a moody progressive, power/thrash metal effort that only resembles the predecessors through some of Sneap's boxy, dark distortion. And while it would be all too easy to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the unfortunate choice in replacement vocalist, it's actually the music itself which drags this record through the mud.

The riffing is almost entirely boring...even when it most resembles the band's previous material like in "Dumbstruck" or in the thundering "Dreamscape". I recognize that there are in fact fast and hard guitar rhythms, with perky little melodies often cycling through to add another dimension, but with the exception of the rarest cases (i.e. the doom sequence after 5:30 in "Dreamscape" or the creepy intro to "Without a Trace"), there is just nobody home. No fire here. The band's decision to shift towards lyrics with a focus outside their occult excavations and sacrilegious butchery also doesn't help matters. This may be a more 'topical' Sabbat album, with a more futurist bent, but it's just not what the doctor ordered.

Clearly Mourning Has Broken was a mistake, and the band would not survive much longer after its release, since there would be no real reason to pretend that the band's stock had just plummeted off the bottom of the charts, and their creative license was in need of revocation. The album does not completely suck through its 51 minutes of playtime, but then it never qualifies as 'good' either. It wouldn't even be good (or average) for another band under another name. The milk hath been spilled. Walkyier would go on to front the great Skyclad, and the band that had perhaps the greatest potential of any English thrash/speed band would undergo a long slumber, to resurface only when they would reunite with Walkyier for some live performances. But this is one stain that will sadly, forever remain as an example of a royally bad decision.

Highlights: they probably won't be playing much of this at the festival reunion gigs.

Verdict: Fail [3.5/10] (evolution the greatest lie)

http://www.sabbat-uk.com/

Sabbat (UK) - History of a Time to Come (1988)

After a pair of demos and the "Blood for the Blood God" flexi-disc in White Dwarf magazine, it was only a matter of time before Sabbat birthed their first full-length masterpiece. That the amazing Noise Records signed the band comes as no surprise, they had possibly the best taste of any independent label in the 80s when it came to filling out their roster.

Thus, Sabbat released their debut, and one of the most impressive occult speed/thrash metal albums of its day. Martin Walkyier's vile vocal style is the perfect vehicle to steer the endless cavalry of well-constructed, intense riffing. I realize he got a little more diverse with Skyclad, but none of the goofy puns and limericks of that later project could touch his excellent lyrics and savage delivery in this band. His use of multiple styles really works in a conversational tone, from his snarls to his deeper, 'Chaos' voice.

A resounding intro piece leads into "A Cautionary Tale", an amazing Faustian track. Who could forget Walkyier's infernal sneering of: Bell, book and candle, candle, book, bell, forwards and backwards to damn me to Hell. "Hosanna in Excelsis" is an inspiration, charging piece about the revenge of the fallen angels upon Earth and Heaven, and it even reflects this in the lyrics, which are again unsurpassed in their delivery: Hark! The fallen Angels sing: Glory to Satan our King! The Holy Church we thus defied, the usurper crucified! set to an amazing, thrashing breakdown riff. "Behind the Crooked Cross" leers at you from behind its namesake, a crawling yet powerful track with some pickup speed metal. "Horned is the Hunter" is yet another excellent composition, with resonant acoustic intro which takes you to a sylvan glade before the chords erupt. "I for An Eye" features some cool harmonics over its opening riff, and is yet another track about the deception of the supposed path of divinity, as told to Lucifer as he was cast from Heaven, in total Paradise Lost style dialogue:

Mine is the right to glory and light,
and you shall have heartache and pain,
yours must be Hell -
for in Heaven I'll dwell,
I care not for that earthly domain.

"For Those Who Died" is a tribute to the witches falsely burned at the stake. "A Dead Man's Robe" is an epic speed metal instrumental with a nice refrained, charging riff and subsequent breakdown. "The Church Bizarre" is a loving tribute to 'donations' to the pulpit. Religion and hypocrisy are such central subjects to this band, carrying through onto their 2nd album. But Sabbat handled it so well with Walkyier's mocking, clever lyrical explorations, it made the rest of the thrash/speed metal scene seem almost childlike and foolish by comparison. It's also clear that Martin was heavily inspired by classic English literature, a feat that would only be repeated once Cradle of Filth came along (a band who cites Sabbat as a major influence, it's not difficult to hear or see why, Dani also uses a mixture of snarls and grunts to deliver his classical and poetic lyrics). In fact I feel this record had a largely uncredited impact on the emerging black metal genre as a whole. The band has reunited since Walkyier left Skyclad, to do some reunion tours and festival. Who knows if we'll get a new album.

If there is one reason I can't give this album a perfect score, the mix of the album does not hold up for me particularly well, and I favor the 2nd album Dreamweaver ever so slightly for this reason. It's not bad but the guitars don't carry a lot of resounding power. Regardless, this is one of the best thrash/speed metal albums of the 20th century, cohesive and impressive. It's one of the albums that forever emblazoned my soul with the phrase 'Thrash Until Death'. Absolutely mandatory listening, as well as its successor.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (their God a 'God of Mercy' - yet in whose name I'm slain)

http://www.sabbat-uk.com/