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Sunday Old School: Sadus

When it comes to naming some of music’s best bassists, who is it you think of? Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic? Norman Watt-Roy of The Blockheads? The unsung legends such as James Jamerson? Personally, at least when it comes to metal, I believe it’s very hard to find a better bass player than Steve DiGiorgio, who first made his name with the thrash metal outfit Sadus.

Sadus was formed in Antioch, California in 1984 by DiGiorgio, vocalist Darren Travis, drummer Jon Allen and guitarist, Rob Moore, but was unable to record a demo tape until 1986, which came in the form of “D.T.P. (Death to Posers.)” Two tracks from the demo made their way to the Raging Death compilation album and with popularity steadily increasing, the group decided to self-finance a full length album, “Illusions,” with Metal Church guitarist John Marshall handling production duties.

The album found enough success underground to catch the attention of several record labels, with Roadrunner eventually being the company that snapped Sadus up. By 1990, the band had released second full length record, “Swallowed in Black,” which was able to break into the top fifty in Poland. Sadus expanded its profile further still by teaming up with Brazilian thrashers Sepultura and American death metal act Obituary for a tour of North America. The band followed this with the release of a third album, “A Vision of Misery,” in 1992.

Despite the decent reviews and positive crowd response, Sadus was put on hold for a little while as DiGiorgio accepted an offer to become the new bassist of Death, though he still remained a full time member of Sadus. While he was away, Roadrunner re-released the debut album under a new title, “Chemical Exposure,” before DiGiorgio returned in time for a tour opening for another death metal darling, Morbid Angel.

DiGirgio’s involvement with Death had become something of a problem for Sadus, which was forced to go on a year long hiatus after the bassist had recorded the “Individual Thought Patterns” album, as well as joining the band for lengthy touring. Seemingly frustrated by this, Moore quit the band and Sadus continued as a power trio, eventually recording and releasing a new album, “Elements of Anger” in 1997. It was received relatively well but before the band could return the studio, more side projects came about, perhaps most notably the black metal band Dragonlord, which featured Testament guitarist Eric Peterson and Forbidden guitar player,Steve Smyth, as well as Sadus members DiGiorgio and Jon Allen, with the bass player also joining the ranks of Iced Earth in 2000.

As always, side projects kept members of the band, particularly DiGiorgio, busy for the next several years, especially when he joined Testament and collaborated with some of the members on another band, Suicide Shift. Eventually however, Sadus was able to craft another slab of metal with, “Out for Blood,” which was released in 2006 and boasted a guest appearance from Testament singer Chuck Billy on the song “Crazy.” Since then, Sadus has been more or less inactive, though some tours were announced, they were cancelled owing to various issues. Whether or not the band is gone for good or lurking around the corner remains something of a mystery, though if nothing else, fans can treasure the legacy that Sadus has crafted over the past thirty years.

Sadus – “Certain Death”

Sadus – “Black”

Sadus – “Slave to Misery”

Sadus – “In the End”

Sadus – “Down”