Review: Sadist - Season in Silence | |||||||
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Season in Silence | |||||||
Label: Scarlet Records Year released: 2010 Duration: 46:34 Tracks: 12 Genre: Death Metal Rating: Review online: December 16, 2010 Reviewed by: Christopher Foley |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 3.8/5 (76%) (10 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
It's full-on winter in England at present, and the snow is probably the most extreme I've witnessed in my lifetime. Getting around has been a nightmare, but there has been a silver lining; repeated listens of Sadist's latest offering, Season In Silence. This has been a prominent part of my soundtrack to the winter; with the coupling of the ridiculously brilliant artwork and the icy content this album makes a good choice for the cold season. Sadist have been slugging it for many years now, although this was my first proper taste of the band. Their sound is progressive death metal, drawing similarities to acts such as Atheist and Cynic in places, although for the most part this album has quite an original feel to it. At times thrashing, and at others settling into a groove highlighted by technical drum work enveloped in the aforementioned icy keyboard work. These guys can certainly play, although they never parade their talents. With the majority of the guitar solos being relatively quick affairs, they leave you begging for more as opposed to looking at your watch and the guy can really play; some of those leads would make Petrucci blush. There are a couple of bass/keyboard sections throughout which are really cool, obviously quite jazz-influenced and adding to the atmosphere nicely. The album is quite short at just over 45 minutes which is a perfect length for this, as I think a little persistence is required to fully grasp the material and feel of the album. At a relatively short play time this is easy to spin repeatedly. There are a few instrumentals dotted about the album too, all of which are quite short and flow seamlessly into the other tracks, again adding to the already established atmosphere. "Ogron" is the finest of the instrumentals, with superb synth work backed with riveting percussion and quirky leads, this puts Dream Theater instrumentals maybe four times the length to shame. Standout tracks would include the opening combo of "Broken and Reborn" and the title track. The former builds up from a mesmerizing Meshuggah-style groove into a slow burning progressive monster, and the latter is one of my favorite tracks on the album with stunning keyboard work, thrashing riffs and one fucking godly guitar solo. Speaking of godly guitar solos the following track "The Attic and the World of Emotions" houses maybe the finest of the album, tearing the place up over a stunning rhythm section. Other standouts include the melodic brilliance of "Night Owl", and the creepy "Bloody Cold Winter" with its bizarre lyrics. On the whole Season In Silence is an excellent album, and one of the finest I've heard in the genre this year. While everyone and their Grandma's dog are happy enough trying to out-tech each other, Sadist slither through the frost-bitten woods, pedaling their cold calculated form of progressive death metal to those who will listen. I can't speak highly enough of this album, this sweeps over the competition like an avalanche with only maybe the latest album from Matriden managing to keep its footing amidst the mayhem. Highly Recommended. |
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