Sadist
Tribe

THE REVIEW

I've had this album for about six months, six long months during which listening to it was sometimes eager, sometimes indifferent, and sometimes I've run out of lofty adjectives. Finally, I've decided to review it, even for those like the Bassist, who will have a good laugh reading the contents (since the Bassist is dry and didn't like this CD much... obviously apologies, demonstrations of mutual misunderstandings, and much more will follow, but for now, STOP).

So, the Sadist, a decidedly underground band featuring the "famous" Tommy Talmanica, now manager of the increasingly sought-after Nadir Studio in Genoa, should have started from the vaguely raw roots of the debut Above The Light to reach this Tribe, and then almost completely changed genre, heading towards a gnu metal at times industrial, in short, trendy.
In my humble opinion, but also according to all the (anyway few) reviews I've found on the net, this album is a masterpiece!

Ok, I've already said it in previous reviews, but this is because I'm biased and extremely partisan, however, here the language is definitely appropriate. Up to 1996 and probably even up to 2004, no one has ever done anything like it, no one! And we're not talking about the usual brain-cracking jazz-metal nonsense, no need for mental wanking for Mr. Talamanica, just a guitar, synth (which we will talk about later), a nice fretless bass (woooow), and a drum (about whose human nature I continue to have many doubts) are enough to create an album that has cleared out and continues to clear out everything behind it.

The beauty of Tribe is not just in its being terrifically beautiful, in the cuddliness of the melodies, but in its being so experimental, new, frighteningly effective in merging the most diverse influences with each other, in its being so different.
Sad to think that the lines drawn by the good Talamanica have never been deepened by any other group, just when the road was paved, no one had the courage to continue, probably suffocated by the hype created by power metal. In 1996, the state of grace of the genre in Italy was beginning more or less, and then who cares, let's leave it, let's go for power metal (or gnu as Sadist decided to do later) everyone must have thought.

But then what makes this Tribe so special? For one, it's the first and perhaps only heavy album where guitars are not in the foreground, there are even entire tracks without or with very few, solitary chords. Here the true dominator of the scene is a synth with terribly eighties, horrible, antiseptic, flat, antiquated, gaudy but incredibly fascinating sounds. Whether they have to trace fascinating oriental melodies (Tribe plays a lot on these calls to the motifs of the Far East) or whether they serve as a background to fusion breaks or to weave classical-sounding melodies, they give an impressive feeling, never heard anything like it. The way these primordial Casio sounds integrate with the cardboard sound of the drums and the full-bodied sound of the fretless creates a sort of terribly "urban" soundscape.

Now, I grew up with Ken the Warrior and Tiger Mask, but on the legendary Italia 7 they also broadcast another cartoon now re-proposed by Mtv: the unforgettable City Hunter, yes the one with characters with cabinet-like shoulders.
Well, as soon as I heard the fusion interludes and especially the third track From Bellatrix bla bla, it came to my mind, and I would absolutely not know how to explain why, and I swear to you, I don't do drugs!

Talmanica for his part offers some excellent riffs that sound a lot like old-style thrash and some flashes that refer to the prog death of Individual Thought Patterns, also delighting us with some solos in perfect prog/fusion style by a true virtuoso.
I must clarify that in the end, the most describable parts are those that most refer to prog but believe me, they are only an infinitesimal part of the background of this CD (even a Hammond solo (even a Hammond solo (even oooooh amazement) in the seventh track The Ninth Wave, again no guitars anyway), obviously, it remains in the realm of heavy but how can one not be amazed in front of the Primus-like start of The Reign Of Asmat, and especially the tragic, poignant, never banal melodies of From Bellatrix To Betelgeuse, probably one of the best "ballads" I've ever had the chance to hear.

I could talk for hours about this album, and it's a good sign because when a CD sucks, then you have to start saying the usual nonsense and making irony, I could even write another review and never repeat the things I said here, in short, drop your Filtrofiore Bonomelli and search the net for this CD since it has been out of catalog for years. An unattainable album, in every sense.