METALLIAN - Sadus

Illusions/Chemical Exposure - 1988 - R/C
Swallowed In Black - 1990 - R/C
A Vision Of Misery - 1992 - Roadracer
Elements Of Anger - 1997 - Mascot
Out For Blood - 2006 - Mascot Records
Live In Chile - 2015 - Australis
The Shadow Inside - 2023 - Nuclear Blast

Members

Vocals

DARREN TRAVIS

Guitar

DARREN TRAVIS - Rob Moore

Bass

Death>>Steve Di Giorgio>>Control Denied, Painmuseum, Sebastian Bach, Suicide Shift, Dragonlord, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Beltfed Weapon, Synesis Absorption, Obituary, Obscura, Johnny Newman, Death To All, Mythodea, Soen, Artension, Memorain, Testament, Gone In April, Death To All, Devil's Highway, Geoda, Bassists Alliance Project, Spirits Of Fire, Terra Odium, Quadvium, Act Of Denial, Itself - Death, Testament, Control Denied, Painmuseum, Sebastian Bach, Suicide Shift, Dragonlord, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Beltfed Weapon, Synesis Absorption, Obituary, Obscura, Johnny Newman, Death To All, Mythodea, Soen, Artension, Memorain, Gone In April, Anatomy Of I>>Steve Di Giorgio>>Testament, Synesis Absorption, Johnny Newman, Mythodea, Charred Walls Of The Damned, Gone In April, Death To All, Devil's Highway, Geoda, Bassists Alliance Project, Spirits Of Fire, Terra Odium, Quadvium, Act Of Denial, Itself - DARREN TRAVIS

Drum

Flembile, Dragonlord, AC/DZ, Testament, Faust, Futures End, Funeral, Ephel Duath, Dark Hall, Futures End, Masqued>>Jon Allen>>Dragonlord, AC/DZ, Testament, Futures End, Masqued

Keyboard

Steve Di Giorgio - DARREN TRAVIS

History & Biography

Sadus was formed by highschool-mates in Antioch in the San Francisco Bay Area, California in 1984. The band offered a speedy thrash metal attack with a distinct growling frontman. The band has gone on hiatus several times (1991, 2015, etc.), but remained a going concern more or less ever since. The initial line-up consisted of vocalist/guitarist Darren Travis, guitarist Rob Moore, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and drummer Jon Allen. Bassist Steve and drummer Jon were old friends. Di Giorgio joined Death in 1986 and then again in 1991 and, having tasted freelance pay cheques, transitioned to becoming the scene's fretless bass taxi. The band quickly became part of the second wave of Bay Area thrash metal, combining the speed of thrash with increasingly technical musicianship that bordered on early death metal. Early releases were the D.T.P. ('Death To Posers') of January 1987 (recorded in October of 1986) and Certain Death demos in 1987, which circulated widely in the underground tape-trading network and helped establish Sadus for extreme speed. The band was briefly called D.T.P. before changing to Sadus actually.

The debut album Illusions appeared in 1988 through Sadus Records before becoming Chemical Exposure as a reissue. The title had to be changed as it was part of the artwork and, moreover, the record was appearing in different formats making the old artwork unsuitable. It was co-produced by Metal Church's John Marshall who was introduced to the Sadus boys by members of the band Hexx. The album’s relentless speed, abrupt tempo shifts and violent riffing made it one of the most intense releases of the late-1980s thrash metal scene. Ironically, the band was signed by Roadrunner Records based on a 1989 demo, The Wake Of Severity. The band toured the underground circuit including opening for Obituary and Sepultura in North America. Sadus and pre-Obituary band Xecutioner had been on the Raging Death compilation of 1987 together. The band opened for Morbid Angel in Europe. Sadus released the slower Swallowed In Black through Roadrunner Records's R/C imprint in 1990. It dealt with environmental degradation. The band’s third album A Vision Of Misery (1992) pushed even further into technical territory. The band headlined a tour in Europe. Steve Di Giorgio left in 1993 and was busy with Death. He would return a year later. However, two years after the release of the last album it was the turn of guitarist Rob Moore to leave the group and activity slowed. During the mid-1990s Steve Di Giorgio became a session bassist, working with bands such as Death and Testament while Sadus remained largely inactive. The compilation Chronicles Of Chaos was released in 1997 to collect material from the first three albums, followed the same year by Elements Of Anger, which showed a trendy groove-oriented direction with keyboards and featured the trio of Travis, Di Giorgio and Allen. Ironically, this record was produced by Scott Burns. Keyboard/black metal band, complete with facepaint, Dragonlord featured two Sadus members in 2000. In an interview, Sadus' Steve DiGiorgio - partly responding to Iced Earth main man Jon Schaeffer's comments on DiGiorgio who had contributed to Iced Earth's Horror Show album - called Iced Earth an "Iron Maiden cover band." The band toured Europe with Nasty Savage.

After another hiatus the band returned with Out For Blood in 2006, the first album in nearly a decade. Although it reintroduced Sadus to the metal scene, activity again slowed and members focused on other projects. Nonetheless, Destruction was joined by Sadus and Municipal Waste for the Thrash Til Death North American tour in January of 2007. Watain, Obituary and Sadus were touring in 2007. Testament, Lääz Rockit and Sadus were touring the USA in 2008. The group was booked to play in Brazil in 2008. The group appeared at Party.San and Brutal Assault 2009. Live In Chile of 2015 was actually audio belonging to a 2005 live video. The band reunited and began work on new material in 2017, eventually recording The Shadow Inside, released through Nuclear Blast after a seventeen-year gap in 2023. Nuclear Blast had become involved when A&R Monte Connor, who had originally signed the band to Roadrunner, had shown interest in the new material. By this time the line-up had changed significantly, with Travis handling multiple instruments on the album while longtime bassist Di Giorgio was no longer involved. He had officially departed in 2015. Strangely, the band had collected money from fans to record an album before officially quitting in 2021. The return announcement came along with a record contract with Nuclear Blast in late 2022. Sadus dumped drummer Jon Allen in late 2024 after a video appeared online that alleged the musician physically abused his partner, Brandy Mae Collins who was hospitalised reportedly for abuse and a kidney transplant. She alleged Allen had an alcohol problem. Collins’ friend Devin Reiche, singer/bassist of the American Anubis, had shared the video. Sadus was touring with Obituary. Hirax replaced the band at Maryland Deathfest. Like Exciter, the band pulled out of Hell's Heroes 2025.

In the Dune books Sadus is the Fremen word for a 'judge'. The monicker was suggested by a friend of the band named Rick Rogers.

Reviews

SADUS - ELEMENTS OF ANGER - MASCOT
Who knows how Mascot Records came to contact Sadus. Regardless, the Bay Area thrashers are back and have quite an accomplished, progressive thrash album on their hands. Having lost the services of one guitarist and long gone from the Roadrunner stable, the trio offers the type of technical thrash that has little served bands in the past. The fans are simply not supportive of bands of this nature. Witness Obliveon, Requiem or Anacrusis. Regardless, the band's fourth release kicks off with a riff straight out of Exodus' Bonded By Blood only to turn into a technical thrash opus, sadly accompanied by sampled synthesizer interludes. The vocals are a cross between old Sadus and Possessed's later days. The band can actually be quite heavy quite often and the musicianship remains impressive. Yet, given this style's track record one wonders if anyone cares. - Ali "The Metallian"

SADUS - OUT FOR BLOOD - MASCOT
Sadus are back too - add another to the returnees list - as a trio again, with Steve Di Giorgio and his famous bass sound, Darren Travis and Jon Allen. Once again a back-to-the-roots, aggressive thrash metal album is promised and the album’s title is obviously intentionally chosen to reflect that. In the Name Of... starts things off and the aforementioned bass sound is at the forefront of it all, throughout the six minutes a lot of the promised thrash metal is delivered. No More features the first of many extra and surely unnecessary synth effects one would have heard in the early days of science fiction. Smackdown is clearly influenced by Di Giorgio’s time playing with Death and is reminiscent of Lack Of Comprehension. Lost It All is totally out of place with its synth effects and sometimes sounds more like acid-driven songs of the '70s. Sick returns to the promised sounds of the '90s. Down is a Biohazard type sound and is positively annoying when it tries to be macho. Freedom, running at almost seven minutes, is a catchier version of the songs preceding it and sounds especially good compared to its immediate predecessor. Freak, featuring an opening scream, is thrashy and short. Cursed, another really long one, features a South Asian sounding opening and ventures into more psychedelic sounds, however it does speed up eventually and not for the first time on Out For Blood sounds a lot like Death, the song Philosopher in this case. Crazy closes out this 11-track release with more odd and out of place tempo variations. - Anna Tergel

Interviews

Sadus