Beats and yelling: Sadism

Tribulated Bells
Out 24^th January on Hammerheat Records (originally released in 1992)

Coinciding neatly with our recent discussion on Chilean metal comes this reissue from Hammerheat Records of Sadism’s ‘Tribulated Bells’, an early intervention in Chilean extreme metal. Notable alongside the likes of Torturer for being one of a handful of bands to make inroads into the full length game in the early 90s from Chile, toying at the borders of death and thrash metal just a few years after their counterparts in the Northern Hemisphere.

This album is a welcome companion to Vader’s ‘Ultimate Incantation’, or perhaps the chaotic end of Floridian metal in the likes of Monstrosity or Malevolent Creation. There is a precalculated hesitancy dictating the rhythmic flow across these pieces, something that juxtaposes nicely with the decidedly mechanical production. The lengthy instrumental title track opening the album strikes one as a rather bold move for the time, anticipating the cinematic reveries of The Chasm for its gradual unfurling of thematic material, compounding into moments of well balanced tension and release.

As the album progresses the pace is picked up, but with each new explosion of blasting energy comes a mid-paced rebuttal, accenting the thrash atonality still latent in Chilean death metal of this era with a more ambitious narrative undercurrent. Bursts of percussive energy seem to will the music forward to greater heights of aggression and chaos, but they remain conditional, tentative when compared to similar moves one can find in the music of Vader at this time. The dynamics of this interplay, alongside the cold sterility of the production values, give rise to an emergent, dark atmosphere, a transcendent quality not reducible to any one instrument or facet of the mix, a tension compounding on absence, the spaces between each rhythmic punch and tempo change.

These production values are also beneficial in laying bare the mechanics of each composition, as competing themes throttle each other for dominance, only for the unfocused chaos of a guitar lead to settle the matter and drag the piece onto a new page. Drums are notable for reaching beyond their means in order to conduct the many moving parts they are forced to contend with. Rhythmic consistency is maintained, but little room is left for the accent or swing listeners are accustomed to in an Immolation or for that matter Slayer. The assertive tempo of each passage only draws attention to the transition from one speed to the next, creating a pulsing, uncertain, and ultimately tense flow to the album that could almost be abrasive for listeners accustomed to more unified iterations of early death metal.

For all its frigidity and fidelity to forms that were well established by the time this was released, there is a refreshingly lawless energy pervasive across this album. A subversion of form made all the more satisfying in the context of music otherwise doggedly loyal to the dominant style of death metal emanating from Florida when this was released. Odd contrasts between more daring chromaticism and linear thrash, diffuse guitar leads alongside remarkedly focused solos, rampant speed thrills tempered by a ponderous insistence on considered pacing, clinical and sterile production put in service of what are, at times, remarkably flamboyant atmospheric currents. All make this a wonderful companion piece to the classics of death metal from this era.