Sabbat, the UK’s finest thrash metal band, will be playing five minutes’ walk from my place tonight. I will be seeing them. It will be awesome. I am really excited. I will be being really annoying by repeatedly requesting ‘Blood for the Blood God’. Martin may well take the piss out of me again.
History of a Time to Come is brilliant, frantic, anthemic; with Sneap ripping out riff after riff after riff, all topped off by Martin’s crazed, barking, on-the-verge-of-aneurysm vocals.
Dreamweaver takes the template and ramps it up to eleven, Walkyier and Sneap goading each other on until the whole affair is teetering, arms pinwheeling, on the brink of sheer lunacy, and it works, mutating into that rarest of beasts – a full-on concept album that isn’t piss boring.
Even the much-maligned (to the point of being disowned by Sneap) Mourning Has Broken has a lot going for in terms of musicianship and that wonderfully bleak early-nineties atmosphere. Richie Desmond is a very, very different singer to Walkyier, but he plays to his strengths, and I think that it still works in a strange, operatic way.
Sing their praises here!
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Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:50 pm
markhebb
Super Trooper
Joined: Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:29 am Posts: 7908
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
Dreamweaver>History of a Time....
Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:51 pm
Shallowthing
Storm Trooper
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:44 pm Posts: 15990
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
I'd probably concur. 'Mythistory' is probably my favourite song of theirs, and 'The Clerical Conspiracy' is especially powerful too.
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Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:53 pm
Painkiller
Darth Fucking Vader
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:25 am Posts: 28491
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
In purely objective terms History is better than Dreamweaver, but I can't help but love Dreamweaver more. It's a big, soggy, ridiculous mess - Sneap describes it as something like "Martin shouting poetry over five riffs at once", but that's precisely what I love about it. I saw "Return to the Sabbat" in Christmas 2008, and even though it was just Martin with a bunch of session musicians it was still awesome and put a huge grin on my face. They still didn't play Blood For The Blood God, though.
Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:56 pm
hj864
Darth Fucking Vader
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:54 am Posts: 25945
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
I AM KHORNE I AM DEATH FEAR MY NAME MY ICEY BREATH FEEL THE POWER, THE DEADLY CHILL WHEN I SAY DIE THEN DIE YOU WILL
Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:13 pm
Ed Blackadder
Super Trooper
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:32 pm Posts: 8683
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
I likeAH the way Martin's lyricSAH helps you visualisAH pictureSAH. Dreamweaver is great, totally ridiculous. Your description of it is spot on Shallowthing - it sounds like it's about to collapse under its ambition any second, but somehow it works.
I remember hearing Sabbat's 'Friday Rock Show Session' in about 1987 and (because I taped everything back then) playing it over and over. When I got the first album I was mildly disappointed, but still liked it quite a bit. I never bought Dreamweaver and only heard it about three years ago, I didn't really like it and the song titles were frankly a bit fucking silly, 'Do Dark Horses Dream of Night-mares'. Puleez!
Anyway, I did see them in Leicester in 1990 which was quite cool I suppose. Even though the support band was 'Ignorance' from Corby, in fact the singer used to work over the road. They were, well, a bit crap.
I have heard the last album once I think, didn't like it.
So yes History > Dreamweaver > The other one.
But Friday Rock Show Session > History.
Ha, now who's the elitist kvlt bastard!
_________________ Why was the Christmas thread unlocked and then locked again??? Completely without justification.
Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:00 pm
Chantler
Star Trooper
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:21 am Posts: 4643 Location: New Forest
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
Is History 'objectively' better than Dreamweaver? Dreamweaver songs were way more memorable and inspired and just seemed to advance every element of the comparatively tentative and orthodox debut to perfection. I thought the consensus had always been that Dreamweaver was best? Well I always thought so. But then, Dreamweaver was the first CD I ever bought (along with the CANCER debut), in the Our Price that's now an army surplus store opposite Southampton Bus Station, mid-1990.
Sabbat were one of the first proper heavy bands I got into after hearing "the classics" so they hold a special place in my heart alongside Slayer, Megadeth, Venom, Kreator etc.
I always preferred the debut, its one of those handful of albums like Bonded By Blood where you feel like the riffs could flay the skin from your flesh, and the sheer aggression of that album makes it one of the finest examples of what 'thrash metal' should be.
But Dreamweaver continues to grow even now. There is a weird sound and atmosphere to that album that is almost, not "pine scented", but of the soil, a dark weighty sound that ties in perfectly with the pagan subject matter, and sets it apart from US and German thrash. If you have ever read the The Way of Wyrd, it somehow manages to evoke the spirit of Bates story perfectly.
I remember how much I looked forward to hearing Mourning Has Broken when it came out (still have the cassette somewhere) but I was hugely disappointed, it just lacked the edge I wanted, and the songwriting just wasn't up to par. Certainly not the worst album by any means, and I can see how some people might like it, its just not for me.
I saw "Return to the Sabbat" in Christmas 2008, and even though it was just Martin with a bunch of session musicians it was still awesome and put a huge grin on my face. They still didn't play Blood For The Blood God, though.
Typo or losing track of time? The last ever Return to the Sabbat show was in Camden in 2003. I was there and it was ace.
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Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:03 pm
Painkiller
Darth Fucking Vader
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:25 am Posts: 28491
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
Fuck, yes, it was a typo. It was 2003, the Earache Christmas party in Nottingham. Deicide, Akercocke and Return to the Sabbat in a shitty little club.
Chris - Yes, it is objectively, obviously better, and if you don't agree you haven't listened to them in the right way. The things I don't like are just shit, though, no matter how many times you've heard them.
Parody = awesome
Last edited by Painkiller on Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:30 pm
Bonesaw
Infant-ry
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:51 pm Posts: 29
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
I was disappointed to discover that this was not a thread in praise of the awesome multiple live-album releasing Japanese thrashers of the same name.
Still, for what it's worth, Dreamweaver is the best offering by the UK version.
Last edited by Bonesaw on Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:10 pm
Painkiller
Darth Fucking Vader
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:25 am Posts: 28491
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
UK Sabbat > Japanese Sabbat. By a very long way indeed.
I've always preferred History... to Dreamweaver tbh.
Quote:
the Earache Christmas party in Nottingham. Deicide, Akercocke and Return to the Sabbat
Niiiice.
I went to the Xmass Fest a few days later with Deicide, Nile, Destruction, Akercocke, Graveworm, Dew Scented and Amon Amarth (before they became big). No RTTS though.
I saw them backing up Cradle of filth a couple of years ago it was ok.thats all.
They'd only been rehearsing for a month or two by that point (and Martin had a throat infection on the tour). Dani Filth bascially got Andy Sneap drunk and coerced him into getting the band back together.
I've always liked Dani.
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Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:44 am
Stat_Rad
Storm Trooper
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:23 pm Posts: 22054
Re: Sabbat Appreciation Thread
good band. uneven though, i always thought, but definitely worthy.
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