Sabbat - Sabbatrinity [2011]

When I think Sabbat, I think about the excellent United Kingdom band that released two masterful thrash albums in the late 80's. However, it turns out that this Sabbat from Japan has been around even longer and has released a mountain of cult but well-received records in the last twenty years. I'm a little late to the party, I know, but not too late to enjoy this nice little gem. Sabbatrinity contains nine down and dirty, old-school (and I mean old-school) blackened thrash metal songs and one instrumental outro. No ballads, no screwing around, no progressive elements, not even a slightly modern production; just straightforward, archaic killing sprees in worship of the occult. It isn't the heaviest or catchiest genre offering I've ever heard, but Sabbat's latest effort presses all the right nostalgic buttons to put smiles on jaded thrash fans' faces everywhere.

Like I said, the sound quality is bad. Seriously bad, but in that charming classic way. If anything, that's the biggest problem with modern thrash: everything's so polished and clean now. I'd honestly rather listen to something that sounds like a demo from 1984. The music itself is what's important, of course, and it's exciting in great measure. The vocalist reminds me of a wilder, Japanese version of Ron Royce (of Coroner fame), except that sometimes he lets loose these high-pitched shriek growl things; you just have to get used to it. That's where the Coroner similarities end. There's no technicality in the Sabbat gameplan. They don't actually play too fast, either, which allows for more melodic parts to keep things memorable. Superb songs like "Witchflight" and "Karmagmassacre" never leave your memory, but my personal vote goes to "Root of Ultimate Evil" for having a chorus that I, for the life of me, cannot get out of my freaking head.

"Northern Satanism" doesn't really do anything for me, but the rest of the songs scorch for the modest running time (another great feature). My biggest problem with Sabbatrinity is that the guitar tone could be a bit grittier in the sound; otherwise, I love this old-sounding mixing. This is undoubtedly the best thrash album released so far this year. It has the sound (and the songwriting that fits so well with it) that bands like Havok and Artillery lack nowadays. Mix that with awesome cover art and an even cooler logo, and you have an icon-worthy group that's hovering far below the scene's radar. I'd say that they should be more popular, but I imagine that even Sabbat wouldn't want it that way. Well, enjoy 'em if you're lucky enough to know about 'em!

   Overall: 8.25/10 (Great - the curse is on)