Review SADUS ‘The Shadow Inside’

The story of Sadus begins in 1985 in California. Darren Travis, Rob Moore, Steve Di Giorgio and Jon Allen joined forces and created Sadus, an outlet for their passion for metal.

Sadus released a total of three albums during this era, before it took nine long years for their fourth longplayer ‘Out for Blood’ to hit the stores. After that, the band went quiet again and it was bassist Steve DiGiorgio who returned to fulfill his obligations with Testament and once again provided a rock-solid groove for the Bay Area legends.

Now Sadus are back, but without DiGiorgio. Driven by Jon Allen and Darren Travis, ‘The Shadow Inside’ is their new album, which is very pleasing and yet sounds a little different to their previous albums.
What is missing is DiGiorgio’s impulsive bass, which characterized the previous albums. Nevertheless, ‘The Shadow Inside’ is a good album.

‘First Blood’ is the title of the opener and it is a quiet intro-like beginning, which quickly leads into a thrashy headbanger. Sadus take a relatively straightforward approach here and even if clever breaks regularly interrupt the structure, the furious track is a trailblazer for the album.

‘Scorched and Burnt’ is groovier and mid-tempo, with Travis screaming his head off. Things continue with ‘It’s the Sickness’ and the song should already be known, as it was the first single to be released from the album. It’s a sophisticated, but also wild composition that leads to the throbbing start of ‘Ride the Knife’.

The latter song blasts out of the speakers without compromise and is one of the best tracks on ‘The Shadow Inside’. If you need a short breather, you certainly won’t find it in the straightforward ‘Anarchy’. ‘Anarchy’ sums up the entire aggression of the Sadus album in less than three minutes and it also shows that Sadus can create short and crisp pieces.

For those who like short songs, ‘New Beginnings’ is also one of them. However, this is the complete opposite of ‘Anarchy’. ‘New Beginnings’ is an acoustic track that can be seen as a kind of interlude and leads seamlessly to the title track. ‘The Shadow Inside’ takes up the theme of ‘New Beginnings’ and slowly develops into a nasty metal song that is also characterized by Travis’ nagging vocals.

In 2023, Sadus remain true to their technically demanding thrash metal. Anger and aggression is what characterizes the album from start to finish. There is also the familiar finesse, which gives the songs a good dynamic. What you have to get used to, however, are the vocals. The screeching part has increased, which can be a bit tiring in the long run. Nevertheless, Sadus have succeeded in creating with ‘The Shadow Inside’ a very good new piece of work, which will give the band’s fans a lot of pleasure.