Sadist
Above The Light

The album opens with the instrumental "Nadir" (which means in Arabic "Equal and Opposite"), the beginning recalls "Piece of Time" by Atheist with the waves of the sea, then the keyboard takes us toward darker sounds and the real start of the album "Breathin' Cancer" ("Cancer that is Breathed"), the initial arpeggio introduces us to Andy's dark growl soon interrupted by fantastic riffs reminiscent of the more technical Death, the riffs then transform into bone-crushing solos interrupted by Tommy's very "sweet" keyboards, in the end of the song the drums slow down and there's a very sweet arpeggio interrupted by the electric guitar and growl that speed up the song, the song concludes with the harsh struggle between guitar and keyboard, the next song "Enslaved of Lies" ("Slaves of Lies") opens with a beautiful death metal solo that starts Tommy's growl with keyboards and guitar in the background, then after a brief keyboard interlude the song slows down, after a brief battle against the bass, the song speeds up, Andy's growl maintains its pathos, then the piano begins interrupted only by a brief riff.

Next is "Sometimes They Come Back" ("Sometimes We Come Back"), in my opinion one of the most beautiful songs on the album, which opens "slowly" then speeds up thanks to the very fast drumming, everything stops though thanks to fantastic arpeggios that after some small keyboard interlude transform into fierce riffs, the song with the dark charm of the keyboards, of the splendid drumming accompanies us to the end..., "Hell in Myself" ("Hell in Me") opens with a keyboard start that very much recalls power metal, but then everything becomes dark and black... and a beautiful arpeggio begins briefly destroyed by the drums, the arpeggio continues but then becomes many destructive riffs almost reminiscent of early Death from "Leprosy" and "Scream Bloody Gore," then the sweet keyboards regain a brief space but then everything returns as before.

"Desert Divinities" ("Desert Deities") opens with the piano introducing us to a classic beautiful arpeggio that struggles against the electric guitar making the song bone-crushing always interrupted by the splendid arpeggio, the keyboards and spectral riffs bring us to a very calm and very brief arpeggio that is like a light in the darkness. . . . next is the instrumental "Sadist" ("Sadist") which in my opinion is the most beautiful song of the album, it is a fierce battle between demonic riffs and heavenly keyboards, but unfortunately the riffs win for a moment interrupted by only keyboards, then the keyboards give after that Transylvanian atmosphere and after returning to give light in the darkness they accompany us to the end of this magnificent song. The last song is "Happiness'n'Sorrow" ("Happiness and Pain") opens with the waves of the sea and with a diabolical riff with growl the heaviest song of the album.

In 2000 two bonus tracks "Dreaming Deformities" ("Dreamed Deformities") and "Musicians Against Yuppies" ("Musicians Against Yuppies") were added, the production is not of excellent quality, the first is a fantastic death metal song, the second is very different, the start recalls the hardcore punk of Death Kennedys but then the bass brings us back to death metal.

Tracklist:

1. Nadir 2:15
2. Breathin' Cancer 7:25
3. Enslaved of Lies 5:38
4. Sometimes They Come Back 6:26
5. Hell in Myself 5:34
6. Desert Divinities 5:06
7. Sadist 4:21
8. Happiness'n'Sorrow 6:43
9. Dreaming Deformities (BT) 4:35
10. Musicians Against Yuppies (BT) 4:11

This album is for me one of the best Italian metal albums, Sadist is a fundamental group for Italian metal along with Necrodeath and Death SS, not to mention Italian bands like Rhapsody of Fire, Domine, Vision Divine, Lacuna Coil...