CRUST

Crust is the third full-length studio album by Italian progressive death metal act Sadist. The album was released in 1997 through Displeased Records. Crust was re-released in 2007 with two bonus tracks. A cover version of A- Ha´s Take on Me and a cover of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. My version does not include the two bonus tracks.

After the succesful and groundbreaking album release Tribe (1996), which is the predecessor to Crust, a major lineup change took place in Sadist. The only remaining member from the Tribe lineup is founding member and composer/ guitarist/ Keyboardist Tommy ( Sadist don´t use surnames). Bassist/ vocalist Andy who was part of the lineup on the debut album Above the Light (1993) has returned to the fold though and plays bass on Crust. The lead vocals ( mostly growls and aggressive vocals but also some Snake-like ( Voivod) clean vocals) are now handled by Trevor and the new drummer in the band is Oinos. A welcome replacement for Peso who wasn´t the best drummer.

The music is technical progressive death metal with lots of keyboards. References to bands such as Atheist, Cynic and especially Pestilence are quite obvious but Sadist definitely have their own sound. The musicianship is on a high level and while the music is not the most technical metal I´ve heard it´s quite challenging and intriguing at times. There´s also great variation on the album and the two instrumental tracks Holy... and Crust are nice melodic breaks on an otherwise brutal album. The keyboards serve a purpose on the album and they are not just background fill. They create a rather majestic sound at times. This is not symphonic music though. A song like Instinct deserves a mention too for it´s tribal like drumming. Really interesting.

The production which was done by the band themselves is a bit thin but otherwise good and it suits the music well.

While Tribe is generally considered to be Sadist most progressive release, Crust is definitely not far behind. I wouldn´t call it as important as Tribe but it´s an excellent technical progresive death metal album that deserves attention. A 4 star rating is fully deserved. The extensive use of keyboards in the music, which IMO is what sets Sadist music apart from other technical progressive death metal bands of the nineties, is an aquired taste for sure though. A unique album.