Italian prog/death metal quartet SADIST, happen to be one of those bands full of personality and of their own identity sound. Having a strong back catalogue, Sadist strike back with their seventh studio release “Hyaena” 5 years after their latest release. Let’s see what’s going on in their ranks after this five year “gap”.

On “Hyaena” their progressive metal roots are the standard elements of their compositions and their death metal outbreaks find their way only through the vocal lines. Being quite unstable on their past releases, on how they combine these two elements, Sadist seem to have found the ultimate formula that works best for their compositions, on their 2010 release “Season In silence”. They continue that path on “Hyaena” and the album really is flawless!

Once again, weird key parts enhance many guitar riffs or add some atmosphere of their spacey solos, in a bizarre though unique way. Progressive metal guitar parts and solos, this time with a bit more “understandable” or “mainstream” background, if we could use this term for Sadist’s music. Of course, the elements of jazz /fusion and exotic music, could never be missed on a Sadist record. Fretless bass lines and acoustic guitars lighten up the mood, every now and then through the entire album, letting you breathe till the next growl forces you to grin till you loose yourself!

Production-wise I think these bands now days never fail to be far above the thin line that marks the word excellent! “Hyaena” is a record for all you out there, who listen to the wide variety of progressive/fusion metal genres but also love the growls. This is not to be missed at all.

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