26-12-2009Snail trail - Sabbat
Our resident metalosaurus Scott G takes a walk down memory lane
In a golden age of thrash metal when American bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Bay Area guys Death Angel, Possessed, Exodus, Vio-Lence etc and our European cousins Kreator, Destruction, Celtic Frost and Sodom were dominating the ever growing thrash scene, Sabbat caused many ears to prick up through their BBC Radio session in '86 and their 'Fragments of a Faith Forgotten' demo in '87. These efforts then led to their official debut album 'History of a Time to Come' in 1988 through flag flying German label Noise Records.
Following 'History...' the Sabbat boys fought adversity through label problems and financial difficulties and managed to unleash one of the best concept albums of our time in 1989's 'Dreamweaver (Reflections of our Yesterdays)'. Not only was it a spot on thrash metal album which put English thrash in the sunshine after years of living in Venom's shadow, but the story it told was brilliantly put together through vocalist Martin Walkyier's lyrical adaptation of Brian Bates' book 'The Way of Wyrd'.
As Wikipedia explains: The book tells the story of a young Christian scribe called Brand, who in the 7th century is sent to travel in the still-pagan forests of south-east England, researching the extant ways of medicine and spirituality as background to enable the missionaries to convert the people to Christianity. This is just the set-up, however, for the book is mainly a narrative telling the story of Brand and his pagan guide, a shamanic character called Wulf, their interaction, and the compelling clashes between a pagan and a Christian view. Both views are respected in the book. Brand has vivid adventures with plant medicine, the Wyrd Sisters, magical dwarves, omens, fights, and most of all the colourful mentorship of Wulf. The story is fast-paced, but the overall intent is to transmit knowledge about the spirituality of ancient England.
Album intro 'The Beginning of the End's bell tolling runs nicely into the drum intro of 'The Clerical Conspiracy' and Sabbat literally take hold of the listener and smack them across the face, such is the velocity of the opening passage of the track Lyrics are spat out as quickly as the monstrous riffing and even when the timing slows down from sprint to mid pace there is no loss of impact. This is what we needed at the time as our home grown thrash bands were only just finding their way. Walkyier's lyrical quality and quantity perfectly complimented the music (just read through the lyrics as the songs progress and you'll see what I mean) created by guitarist Andy Sneap. Yes, he of Nottingham's famed Backstage Studios...this is where he came from.
The pace drops with the sound of a ship's boards rhythmical creaking with the ocean's waves as the gentle acoustic guitar from 'Advent of Sanity' washes over the mood. However, just when the sense of security is all but confirmed, 'Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares?' reignites the fury and we are back with furious riffing and Walkyier's bridge of 'Welcome, Welcome to my Domain' quickly stamps its leather bound pagan sandal of authority all over it
One of Dreamweaver's many highlights follows in the shape of the bass and drums led 'The Best of Enemies'. More melodic in the guitar work yet no less heavy, 'Enemies' carries fast paced riffing, slower, quality mid paced chugging and a musical hook laden chorus passage that sits in the brain long after the album has finished. 'How Have the Mighty Fallen's buzzing bees accompanied by a spiraling backing guitar lead soon builds into the main monster of the tune with more mid paced guitar work giving way to the faster paced shredding and back again. When I listen back to it, it really becomes how apparent it is that the album really was years ahead of its time. The music, the lyrical theme, the lyrics themselves, even the production all scream classic. The shorter and more direct 'Wildfire' steps up next, and coming in at a mere 4:38 on my Pod of Doom proves itself to be the shortest of the actual 'tracks' on the album when you don't include intros, musical interludes and outros. Don't however confuse the small for weak as what it lacks in complexity, it makes up with straight punching pound for pound power. 'Wildfire' is still ringing in the ears when 'Mythistory' picks up the baton and continues the onslaught of quality with its brooding intro soon building into a twisting, ascending riff until we are into the main body and its back to where we left off. Quite a complex song with time changes aplenty and more riffs than Afghanistan has explosions, Mythistory' goes off in many directions yet always returns to the chosen path and it brings the album to a fine close when followed by the beautiful acoustic 'Happy Never After' which then lays the final wreath after 'Dreamweaver' has battered the listener into submission.
Not a stone goes unturned in the unfolding of the story during the album, which is a feat in itself and all this before you actually dissect the musicianship displayed. Martin Walkyier take a bow- his lyrics and vocal delivery on Dreamweaver never ceases to amaze me, yet the opus is definitely not a one man band with his words being complimented by Sneap's music (and to a lesser extent Simon 'Jackhammer' Jones' contribution).
Sabbat unfortunately fell apart after Dreamweaver. Sneap continued to play under the Sabbat banner with drummer Simon Negus however Jones abandoned ship after a drunken row before a Dreamweaver gig, Walkyier left to form Skyclad, and bassist Fraizer Craske left the music industry altogether. The following, final Sabbat album, 'Mourning Has Broken' had some explosive playing on it but by all accounts was, well, thrown together crap and was widely acknowledged as so by the band, fans and critics alike.
Dreamweaver enjoyed a rerelease in 2007 with an extended booklet and 3 extra live tracks, namely The Clerical Conspiracy, Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares? and The Best of Enemies so its out there for you to (re)discover and revel in its majesty.
A true classic.
Scott Gabriel
