Sabbat – History Of A Time To Come

Because you’re all completely invested in this ongoing story, you’ll all recall that Scott (our HMO, may he only ever use his powers for evil awesomeness) sent a parcel containing way, way more than I’d anticipated. Including two CDs of music he considers HMO Approved. The first, reviewed the other day, was the mighty Manowar record. Wow that was great. And the other one he sent is the subject of today’s review. Ready? Give ‘er!

Generally, when I do these reviews, I go through track by track and comment on each song. It’s cool, because it proves I am not lazy and am actually paying attention! And my original (scrawled in blood) notes on this record did just that. But going back through those notes I realize all I ultimately did was write the equivalent of “holy shit that song was AWESOME!!” for every song. 

Oh, I mentioned how some songs have an acoustic guitar intro before grabbing you by the throat and squeezing until you can fight no longer. Some have clever titles, like I For An Eye (all I could think, of course, was “Aye Aye!”) and The Church Bizarre, which is presumably a church bazaar that only sells really weird shit no one could ever want or need. I also enjoyed the title Horned Is The Hunter.” t’s just so… evocative. Presumably, it’s related to the album’s cover art?

Not that I could understand many of the words (I didn’t, sadly, have my good headphones on for this one), but there seems to be a fair amount of religious commentary going on here too. Fair enough. I’m sure the internets has the lyrics if you really want to go there. 

But what really, truly matters here is that this is pure, unadulterated, kicking and screaming thrash metal by way of NWOBHM mayhem that unquestionably, uncompromisingly kicks total ass. This record lays siege to castles, burns the villages, carries off the women and plunders the riches. And that’s all before the end of track three. The playing here is so solid, the songs smartly written, and everyone in this band pulls off performance after performance of a lifetime. I don’t know how that guy screamed like that for an entire record’s-worth of tracks. His vocal chords must be shredded. The only thing I could do without is the silly ‘spooky voice’ intro, but it doesn’t last long so just skip it, if needs be.

Now, this edition came with 5 bonus live versions of album tracks, recorded in East Berlin 1990-03-04 at the first-ever thrash metal festival in East Germany, according to the singer. The sound quality is fantastic, the pace is crushing and the tracks are all so worth it. Holy hell these were awesome. Imagine the mosh pits!

In sum? This record just pummels you relentlessly, and you’re happy to let it. It’s a great time. I LOVED it. 

Buy this. Buy it right fucking now. 

THANKS HEAPS, SCOTT!

You also ABSOLUTELY MUST go read Scott’s far better-written and considered review of this record RIGHT HERE! Go! Go now! It’s right here! READ THIS! He says what I was thinking far better than I ever could. GO!

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