UMUR "Hyaena" is the 7th full-length studio album by Italian progressive death metal act Sadist. The album was released through Scarlet Records in October 2015. It´s the successor to "Season in Silence" from 2010. Sadist was one of the more prolific technical/progressive death metal acts out of Italy in the early- to mid 90s, but after releasing the NU-metal oriented "Lego (2000)" their star faded and they disbanded. The band reunited in 2005 and released an eponymously titled comeback album in 2007. "Hyaena" is the third album released after Sadist opted to reunite.

Stylistically the music on "Hyaena" is technical/progressive death metal with jazz/fusion influenced sections and a touch a of world music too. Artists like Cynic, Atheist, and Pestilence ("Spheres (1993)") are obvious influences but Sadist aren´t clones by any means. The omnipresence of keyboards for example make them a bit different.

The vocals are snarling and aggressive, which suits the music well and the instrumental part of the music is very well performed too. Sadist are obviously very skilled musicians who know how to handle their instruments. Fusion influenced drumming and bass playing, death/thrashy guitar riffs and jazz/fusion influenced guitar solos, and atmosphere enhancing keyboards. It all works very well (and also better than on "Season in Silence (2010)"), but upon conclusion it´s not many tracks which stand out (I´d mention "Gadawan Kura" as a standout track), but it´s a highly enjoyable release while it plays. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Season in Silence" is the 6th full-length studio album by Italian technical/progressive death metal act Sadist. The album was released through Scarlet Records in March 2010. Sadist were formed in 1990 and while they´ve never achieved any notable commercial success, they are still widely considered among the most prolific technical/progressive death metal acts out of Italy. They were originally active from 1990 to 2001 where they disbanded, but reunited in 2005 and released their 5th full-length studio album in 2007 (an eponymously titled release). So "Season in Silence" is their second album after their comeback. "Season in Silence" is a concept album with a lyrical theme involving subjects like childhood innocense, nightmares, and examination of nature.

Stylistically the music on the album is technical/progressive death metal featuring aggressive "core" tinged growling vocals. Keyboards also have a dominant place in the soundscape. The riffs are both culled from the death- and thrash metal books of playing. While the album certainly belongs in the technical/progressive death metal camp, Sadist generally restrain themselves, so this is not a tech metal fest and the song structures are generally not overtly complex. Sadist always favored atmosphere over technical playing and continues to do so on "Season in Silence".

The material on the 12 track, 46:34 minutes long album is relatively well written and effectful, but overall it lacks a bit in the memorability department. The band are very well playing, but it´s like they struggle to come up with some really memorable hooks. The general quality of the songwriting is decent enough, but you just get the feeling that musicians of this high class, could have produced music a little more catchy. "Season in Silence" features a powerful and clear sound production, which suits the music well, so it´s a quality release on most parameters. The songwriting does drag my rating down a bit, but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.

UMUR "Above the Light" is the debut full-length studio album by Italian technical/progressive death metal act Sadist. The album was released through Nosferatu Records in July 1993. Shortly before the recording of the album the band had lost their lead vocalist Fabio and as a consequence bassist Andy would take over the vocal duties in addition to recording the bass parts, making Sadist a three-piece consisting of Tommy (guitar, keyboards), Peso (drums) and Andy (vocals, bass). Sadist had released the "Black Screams" demo in 1991 and the "Black Screams" EP later that year as well as toured a lot in 1992 before entering the studio to record "Above the Light". They were at this stage in their career still a rather inexperienced band though and I think that shines through on the compositions on this album.

There are 8 tracks featured on the original release (two bonus tracks on the Japanese version) while there are two additional bonus tracks (recorded in 2000 during the "Lego (2000)" sessions) on the 2006 Beyond Productions re-release. A strange choice for bonus material to include outtakes from a 2000 recording session on an album from 1993. The original tracks are in a technical/progressive death/thrash metal style with growling/raspy vocals. There are both jazzy and classical elements in the music but the basis is death/thrash. A promotional video was made for the track "Sometimes They Come Back" which is also the most catchy track on the album.

The sound production quite frankly leaves a lot to be desired and as a consequence affects my listening experience in a negative direction and therefore drags my rating down. The music lacks power because of the bad sound quality and it´s such a shame as I´m sure a more powerful sound production would have given me a totally different listening experience.

The musicianship is decent although there are elements of Peso´s drumming style that are a bit too anchored in the bad part of the eighties thrash metal movement. It´s not all bad though and he does play a couple of pretty interesting things along the way. Band leader and main composer Tommy is obviously a good musicians/composer but he still needed a few more years to perfect his style too.

I´ve heard people praise "Above the Light" as a progressive death metal classic but I have to strongly disagree with that statement. Although the comparisons to artists like Death and Atheist (especially the former) are certainly valid enough there´s a big difference in quality. For newcomers to Sadist music I suggest that you start with their second album "Tribe (1996)" before listening to "Above the Light". If we´re talking technical/progressive death metal classics that one certainly applies. "Above the Light" is overall too raw and unpolished both when it comes to the maturity of the songwriting, the sound production and the musicianship. a 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Black Screams" is an EP release by Italian technical/progressive death metal act Sadist. The EP was released through Obscure Plasma Records and apparently sold 2500 copies which is quite impressive IMO.

There are two tracks on the EP. Both are taken directly off the "Black Screams" demo tape released earlier that year. Lo-fi sound quality, bad musicianship and everything else not worth mentioning are intact from the demo tape. The EP was actually re-released a second time in 1992 by Wild Rags Records. This time around on tape limited to 2500 copies. The Wild Rags Records tape version of the EP features a bonus track called "Musicians Against Yuppies" which is no better and no worse than the other two tracks.

This is a below average release in every aspect of that term and even with an additional track (which is only available on the Wild Rags Records version) this is still a 1 star (20%) rating, which is the same rating I gave the demo. It´s not the most promising start from a band that would release some very interesting technical/progressive death metal releases just a few years down the line, but I guess we all have to start somewhere...

UMUR "Black Screams" is the debut release by Italian technical/progressive death metal act Sadist. It is a 2 track demo tape with a full playing time of 10:06 minutes. It´s the only release by the band which features original lead vocalist Fabio. The other three members of the band would all perform on the debut album "Above the Light (1993)" (bassist Andy would take over the lead vocalist role as well as playing the bass on that album).

The music style on the demo is technical/progressive death/thrash metal featuring some pretty aggressive vocals. The progressive elements are the use of acoustic guitars and keyboards which give the sections where those intruments are used a (for the time) pretty original sound. The musicianship is below standard for the genre and especially drummer Peso sounds untight, but there are actually several times during the two tracks where I hear technical playing errors by various members of the band. It´s safe to say that this is a very amaturish performance. The worst example is probably in the middle of the second track on the demo titled "Dreaming Deformities" where there´s a difference in the way the acoustic guitar and the distorted guitar are tuned. That´s just plain disastrous. The least you can do when you record is to tune your instruments.

The sound production is way below standard even for the generally lo-fi demo tape sound production standards of the late eighties- to early nineties extreme metal scene. The guitar is too low in the mix and the bass is way too high in the mix. There´s very little in way of power in this sound. In other words this is a very amaturish sound production.

Well as you might have guessed I´m not too excited about this release and even though there is promise here and there (there are occasionally some relatively interesting guitar parts on the album) the overall impression is that of unstructured chaos. A 1 star (20%) rating is warranted in this case.