Horrifying sights suppressed by the encroaching darkness and whirred into abysmal chaos the coming downfall of humanity amidst the accelerated crumbling of structures of society have been visible since the advent of extreme metal, from which wizened Santiago, Chile-borne death metal quartet Sadism have maintained their vantage point for over thirty years and ten full-length releases. Their latest (and tenth if we count re-recordings + a covers LP) release ‘Obscurans‘ acknowledges the dark stain encroaching upon this period of human history while remaining fortified as a unit, a consistent and elevated groove-heavy death/thrash metal entity these last ten or so years. While they could be accused of sticking to their guns for this latest release, following a familiar thread for those who’d witnessed the development of thrash-based guitar music in the 90’s, it remains to be said that they’d always sported imposing arsenal.

Upon returning to the 1988 ’til now history of Sadism all of the same old conclusions arise, the core strength of their thrash-influenced death metal has always carried a somewhat timeless appeal while also reflecting the taste of the guitarists involved with any given release. That isn’t to say that their sound didn’t change over the years but that the same fan who’d gone nuts over ‘Tribulated Bells‘ back in 1992 could viably have followed their work since and found something to like in every step taken in the last three decades. While I have my own favorites along the way the 2010’s and beyond for this crew have been defined by the addition of guitarist Gabriel Hidalgo who’d first appeared on their triumphal return with new original material via ‘The Ocularis Domination‘, one of their best releases which I’d included at #10 on my 30 Best of 2014. If you’re interested in a more detailed play-by-play and overview of this legendary Chile death/thrash metal band’s history that’d been most of what I’d written about in review of LP number eight (‘Ethereal Dead Cult‘, 2018). This latest release more-or-less picks up a similar set of tools and creates what I’d consider a death metal and half-thrashing hybrid.

DEEPER LISTENING [x]

Pentagram (Chile): This classic underground 80’s death metal band enjoyed some resurgence of notoriety in the late 90’s after Napalm Death included a cover of “Demonic Possession” on ‘Leaders Not Followers‘ (1999) and while we should also pay attention to many other bands from Santiago in the 80’s this is perhaps the most essential introduction to death metal in Chile. Sadism‘s drummer joined the band for their debut LP ‘The Malefice‘ (2013) and any self-respecting death/thrash metal fan knows that album as the real thing.

Criminal: Beyond 1993 it always appeared that the early popularity of (originally) Santiago-based death/thrash and groove metal inspired band Criminal might’ve inspired the groove/death metal style found on ‘Deadline Sequences‘ (1997) from Sadism, the band is also fronted by the vocalist/guitarist of Pentagram.

Atomic Aggressor: Pick up basically any release from this Santiago based thrash ’til death crew (since 1985) and you’ll get riffs, pure and truly mayhemic death metal. One of their guitarists was a big part of Sadism‘s sound from ’96-’10. If you don’t own ‘Sights of Suffering‘ (2014), you need it.

Necrosis: If you love No Return‘s ‘Psychological Torment‘ as much as I do try out this late 80’s thrash metal classic from the Santiago underground. If you still need more: Apostasy, Dorso, Betrayed, Torturer and many others are waiting to be revealed and worshipped.

Sadism‘s style has always been a pair of swords fused at the hilt wherein the sophisticated rhythmic obsession of late 80’s thrash metal songwriting met up with the violent percussive exaggerations of death metal and they’d made this weaponry blunt with a sense of intense speed assumed. The origins of this style was no more clear than ever per a recent covers album (‘The Sadistic Key Elements‘, 2020) in this sense ‘Obscurans‘ pulls back in closer to their core inspiration while applying their own increasingly severe groove infused notions on the path from ‘The Ocularis Domination‘ ’til now, following up ‘Ethereal Dead Cult‘ with an equally machine-gunned push. The easy shortcut to take might be a comparison to Massacra‘s second and third albums, (early) Pestilence, and such bit the moment to moment action of their riffcraft doesn’t flow in such a loose fashion instead building hard-edged groove-thrash metal pieces which retain their death metal furor.

The mid-album grinding rush of “Because We Are Rotten to the Core” exemplifies this affect best where we find a mid-90’s groove-focused composition handled in a tuneful way, experted beyond the brutish chunking of better days, yet the song is patient in its stomp through much in the way you might expect a band like Invocator to handle a thoughtful groove. “Ars Goetia” (and “On Your Knees” for that matter) similarly leans into simpler riffcraft and escalating progressions to create a syncopated and percussive trudging piece. In this way we can begin to shift expectations well past the 80’s and early 90’s style of death-thrashing and toward something many would describe more generally as 90’s groove metal infused style. This doesn’t entirely lose my interest to start but the focus on simpler riffs, no matter how thoughtfully arranged and precise they were, began to lose its exciting luster after ten or so runs through.

Not every piece on the album leans into such fare, though, as “Diabolution” strikes with a bit of punkish fire and walks straight into what I’d consider an early 90’s Slayerized groove complete with loose-fingered leads, “Lower Astral Entities” takes more of a steady walk through its handful of riffs, and my favorite piece on the album “The Void Devourer” (with “Made of Sulphur” not far behind) manages the best balance of hard-chunked death metal movement, thrashing transitions/flourish, and half-speed verses. The full listen isn’t as one-dimensional as it might appear at face value though they’ve not aimed at flashy technical showcase or a hundred riff-changes per minute in creating this album, instead opting for easily read and adrenaline soaked grooves with a death-thrashing edge used as propellant. This all lines up seamlessly thanks to a sharp engineering/mix job from drummer J.P. Donoso which retains an organic quality without the frayed edges of ‘Ethereal Dead Cult‘, which I’d enjoyed slightly more for its rawness.

As a longtime fan of Sadism my favorite aspects/eras of their work and their own logical pathway through are two different things, as is the case with many groups who mature and go their own way. Whereas I’ve most enjoyed their raw and thrashing side each of their last three releases aim for sharper musicianship and emphasize readable movement rather than myriad detail, ‘Obscurans‘ is the latest echo of that ideal which additionally has some ‘old school’ death-thrashing feeling simplicity to its arrangements. In this way we get a very approachable and easy listen from Sadism this time around but not exactly the estranged fire that’d sparked up back in 2014. Still, my thoughts may very well amount to nitpicking fandom, records like ‘Tribulated Bells‘ and even the underrated ‘A Dwelling of Gods‘ have been preserved well enough and this is something different but not outside the realm of possibilities. Taken as the current state of this band alongside a confident banner readied for more I’d found ‘Obscurans‘ to be an energizing and easy to enjoy spin from these folks. A moderately high recommendation.

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