The elitist O4B review

Miguel Suerte

Member
Oct 1, 2005
85
0
6
So AMG finally got around to reviewing O4B and they only gave it 3 stars. They usually give the most pretentious reviews and trash a lot of good stuff as well as have a bizarre taste in what is good and what is bad. I love the part about the assumption that Sadus is just a band whose audience is comprised completely of bassists (hey I'm a drummer and I love Sadus). In the end he says the album is decent but he is pretty backhanded in his review of it. It's almost like he doesn't want to say it's good but for some reason he feels compelled to. What do you think?

The review by Eduardo Rivadavia:

"Quite possibly the only death metal/thrash band whose audience consists primarily of bass players, Sadus will likely carry on re-forming every decade or so to record albums like 2006's Out for Blood (their first in nine years); just as long as four-string colossus Steve DiGiorgio can still pluck the dickens out of his generally overlooked instrument. Standard, five-string, fretless, heck, neck-less, you name it — he can play it, and he does so at a higher level than most anyone ever has in extreme metal. The point of all this discourse being that, although Out for Blood features virtually the same "classic" lineup (minus second guitarist Rob Moore) that recorded Sadus' influential early albums, one would be silly not to recognize that this is now, unquestionably, the Steve DiGiorgio show. Hear the dazzling flurries of bass notes driving most every composition, including the hyperactive "Crazy" and frenzied title cut; behold the Eastern-sounding bass melodies prefacing "Smackdown"; and, perhaps most telling of DiGiorgio's role of maximum authority, check out the unexpected displays of his newfound synthesizer hobby. Not that there's anything wrong with the added dimension this brings to tracks like "No More" and "Lost It All," but original fans will be grateful to find they can still count on more traditional post-thrash Sadus fare such as "In the Name Of..." and the brilliantly vicious "Sick." To that end, vocalist/guitarist Darren Travis and drummer Jon Allen consistently come up with the goods; matching their own, not inconsiderable talents, with those of their all-star bass player so that all three can still operate in remarkably technical lockstep throughout a pair of multifaceted epics, "Freedom" and "Cursed." Ultimately, were it not for a misguided flirtation with nu-metal groove-grinds on the suspiciously named "Down" (which sounds as though they had a few too many beers with the members of Slipknot), Out for Blood is a pretty fine effort — especially from a band that only gets together once a decade."
 
Yeah, he was kind of back-handed in his remarks. He makes it sound like the DiGiorgio Allstar Show, and while Steve is incredible, I certainly wouldn't want to discount Jon and Darren's own abilities (which he tries to make up for later).
 
I don't think the review was all that negative. I think in one respect he's right, it is kind-of the "Steve DiGiorgio Show" on O4B imo. I love the album, but it has Steve written all over it. Let it be noted that I don't think that's a bad thing.

While Darren and Jon certainly hold their own in song-writing and playing, I think Steve's playing is far more "out there" and technical than theirs' is. Like I said, that's not a bad thing - it'd most likely certainly lead somebody on to believe that it's "Steve DiGiorgio and session guys" rather than an actual band, if they didn't know the band history; but it's not a bad thing.

I have no clue where I'm going with this :p
 
Steve don't hate me butttt....I totally agree with him about Down.

+1 :oops:

Down just doesn't do it for me, much like bands like Pantera (which it reminded me of first) and even more so Slpiknot, never did anything for me, either. But that's just a matter of taste, I guess. Fortunately there's more than enough greatness on the rest of the album to more than make up for it! Certainly one of the best releases of the past few years!