Sadist. I mean, it is a name that just hits you
right in the face right off the bat, doesn't
it? Or absolutely. It definitely projects a certain
image. It feels almost like a warning label on
the record. Yeah, you see that band name on a
festival poster or maybe scrawled on a bathroom
stall at a dive bar somewhere, and your brain
immediately shortcuts to a very specific, very
aggressive place. Right. It screams generic,
brutal metal before you even press play. You
expect leather. Probably some standard issue
slasher movie lyrics. Yeah. Exactly. Music that
is just pure, unadulterated noise. Which is exactly
what you'd think. It feels like you know exactly
what you're getting. But, and this is why I absolutely
love doing these deep dives, if you judge this
particular book by its cover or its band logo,
you are going to miss out on one of the strangest...
most technically complex musical journeys in
European history. It really is a journey. We
are definitely not talking about three chords
and a scream here. No, not at all. We are talking
about a band that started in Genoa, Italy way
back in 1991 and has somehow managed to survive
for over three decades by being absolute musical
shapeshifters. Shapeshifters is the perfect word
for them. When we look at the source material
for today, which, by the way, covers their entire
discography, all their major lineup changes and
recent historical data right up to early 2026,
we are looking at a band that looked at death
metal and decided to... Basically break all the
rules. Right. Because death metal is usually
about speed, heaviness, just pure aggression.
Exactly. But they decided to smash it together
with 1970s progressive rock. And then later on,
they took a weird detour into new metal. Oh,
we have to talk about the new metal era. We will.
And then they got obsessed with. african tribal
rhythms and then they made an entire album about
alfred hitchcock movies it's a wild ride and
the mission for today's deep dive is simple we
are going to figure out how this band led by
the only constant member the multi -instrumentalist
tommy talamanca navigated 35 years of chaos to
release their 10th studio album just last year
We need to unpack the music and those really
weird decisions. We do. And we definitely need
to talk about the massive controversy that clouded
their legacy just recently in 2025. But underneath
all of that, we have to talk about the technical
precision. That is really the thread that holds
all these different eras together. It is not
just noise. It's closer to jazz fusion in terms
of complexity, just, you know, played with high
gain distortion. So let's rewind the tape. Let's
go back. We are in Genoa, Italy. It's 1991. Now,
when I think of 1991 metal, I think of Florida.
Oh, the American scene. Right. I think of Morbid
Angel, Death, Obituary. The American scene was
completely exploding. But Italy. Italy had its
own flavor brewing entirely. It did. And you
have Tommy Talamanca, who plays guitar and keyboards,
teaming up with a drummer named Marco Pesenti.
Better known as Peso, right? Right. Peso. And
Peso was already a known quantity in the underground
because he had just left the band Necrodeath.
to start this new project. Which was a big deal.
It was a massive deal locally. NecroDeath was
a cult band. Very raw, very thrashy. So when
he teamed up with Talamanka, the local scene
was basically expecting NecroDeath Part 2. They
wanted fast, angry thrash. Exactly. But Talamanka
had a completely different vision. He wasn't
interested in just playing fast. He wanted to
mix the brutality of death metal with the complexity
of progressive rock and the aggression of thrash
metal. Which, on paper, sounds like a train wreck
waiting to happen. It really does. Sounds like
mixing oil and water. But they make it work.
They grab a bassist, Andy Marcini, and a vocalist,
Fabio Bocchitti, and they just start hustling.
They record a demo, they get signed to a small
indie label called Obscure Plasma Records, and
they drop their debut EP, Black Screams, in 1991.
And that EP is significant because it established
their blueprint immediately. It wasn't just heavy,
it had texture. Yeah, texture is a great way
to put it. And that texture got them noticed.
By 1993, they secured a two -album deal with
Nosferatu Records and released their first full
-length, Above the Medecan. And looking at the
touring schedule from that era, you can really
tell they were hungry. They weren't just staying
in Italy, eating pasta and jamming in the garage
on weekends. They were grinding. They were on
the road constantly. Yeah, they were touring
France, the Netherlands, and they were landing
some serious support slots. We are talking about
opening for Carcass during the Heartwork Tour
in 1994. That is a huge endorsement. It's massive.
For context for the listener, Carcass in 1994
was untouchable. Their album Heartwork is widely
considered one of the greatest melodic death
metal albums ever made. Yeah. If you are opening
for Carcass on that tour, you cannot suck. You
will get booed off the stage immediately if you
can't play. And they could play. They could definitely
play. But the real breakthrough, the moment where
they really found their sound, seems to be the
second album, Tribe. Absolutely. Tribe, which
was released in 1996, is often cited as a true
landmark for them. This wasn't just an Italian
release anymore. It was distributed by Sunrising
in Europe and, crucially, Toys Factory in Japan.
Japan is such a key piece of the puzzle here,
isn't it? It is. The Japanese market has always
had a huge appetite for technical proficiency.
If you can shred, if you can play a million notes
a minute with absolute precision, Japan will
embrace you. Precisely. And Tribe showcased Telemachus'
vision perfectly. They even had a music video
for the title track that got broadcast all over
Europe. Which was huge for extreme metal back
then. Very rare. But what's fascinating here
is how they utilized keyboards. In American death
metal of the mid -90s, keyboards were often seen
as soft, or they were just used for spooky intros.
Right, like a little cheap horror movie atmosphere
before the real guitars kicked in. Yes, but sadists
used them as a late instrument, actually trading
blows with the guitar. It definitely gave them
that specific Italian sound. It wasn't just brutal,
it was elegant. And speaking of getting noticed,
in late 96, they even ended up on an Iron Maiden
tribute album covering Wrathchild. Which is a
badge of honor for any metal band. It is. But
as we so often see in these deep dives, just
as a band hits their stride, the lineup instability
kicks in. It is the classic curse. It really
is the curse of the ambitious band. Right after
Tribe, the drummer, Queso, the guy who helped
start the band Leeds, to reform his old band
NecroDeath. Coach. And then the singer, Xana,
who had already replaced the first guy, gets
replaced by Trevor Nadir. It becomes a revolving
door. And yet they kept pushing. They released
Crust in 1997. They signed to Displeased Records.
And they even played Whackin' Open Air in Germany
in 1998. Wacken is the holy grail of metal festivals.
So up until 1998, the trajectory is completely
upward. They are technical. They are respected.
They are growing. They are doing everything right.
Okay, let's unpack this next part because this
is where the story takes a massive, highly controversial
turn. We get to the year 2000. And the album
is called Lego. Lego. Even the name feels, I
don't know, blocky. It does. It is a controversial
chapter, to say the very least. For context,
think about what was happening in heavy music
globally in the late 90s and the year 2000. It
was not technical death metal. It was the era
of the red Yankees cap. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot.
New metal was the king of the world. Downtuned
guitars, rapping, baggy pants, and sadist, well.
They decided to join the party. It was a very
distinct shift. They produced Lego themselves
at Talamanka's Niger Recording Studios. The complex,
progressive structures that they were known for
were totally stripped back. The sound became
groovier, simpler, more jumpy. It was very clearly
influenced by the nu metal explosion. And the
fans hated it. Not as favorable as the polite
phrasing used in the history books, but yes.
Yes, they did. It completely alienated their
core audience. The people who loved them for
their technical wizardry and their progressive
influences felt betrayed. And on the flip side,
the new metal kids didn't really care because,
well, why would they listen to an Italian death
metal band trying to adapt? It just didn't feel
authentic. No, it felt like trend chasing. It
is that classic risk. Do you stick to your roots
and stay small? Or do you chase the massive trend
and risk losing absolutely everyone? In this
case, the gamble failed. And it failed so hard
that the band actually went on hiatus. They just
stopped. But, you know, sometimes a failure like
that is necessary. You think so? I do. It forces
a reset. If they just kept churning out mediocre
new metal albums to try and catch a wave that
was already cresting, they would have faded into
total obscurity. Instead, they stepped away.
For five years, Sadist essentially didn't exist.
But you cannot keep a good musician down. Fast
forward to 2005. They reform, they sign with
Beyond Productions, and they get back to work.
And when they come back with the self -titled
album Sadist in 2007, it genuinely feels like
an apology letter to the fans it was a massive
return to form But with a new maturity. And there
is a detail on that 2007 album that I think is
brilliant. They featured a guest appearance by
Claudio Simonetti. Wait, Claudio Simonetti from
Goblin, the band that did the soundtrack for
Suspiria and Dawn of the Dead. The very same.
That is incredible. And this is exactly why I
mentioned the Italian sound earlier. Yeah. Italian
progressive rock and Italian horror cinema are
deeply intertwined. Goblin is absolute royalty
in that world. So by bringing Simonetti onto
a death metal album. Sadist was explicitly connecting
their extreme sound with that atmospheric cinematic
heritage of their home country. It grounded them.
It essentially said, we aren't chasing American
trends anymore. We are doubling down on being
Italian. That is such a cool connection. It turns
the music into something way more than just heavy
metal. It becomes atmospheric storytelling. It
is like they finally realized their strength
wasn't in copying Limp Bizkit, but in channeling
Suspiria. Exactly. And speaking of storytelling,
their post -reunion era is just full of these
wild, creative left turns. They certainly stopped
playing it safe. They started treating every
album like a unique. art project take season
in silence in 2010 for example right but here's
where it gets really interesting in 2015 they
released an album called hyena now usually metal
bands might look to classical music or maybe
norse folk music for inspiration but sadist they
look to africa It was a profoundly bold move.
Hyena was inspired by African rhythms and mythology.
And they didn't just slap a digital sample on
it and call it a day. They actually worked with
a Senegalese percussionist named Jean N'Diaye.
Can we just pause and appreciate how unusual
that is? You have Tommy Talamanca shredding on
electric guitar, Trevor Nadir doing brutal death
metal growls, and then actual Senegalese percussion
weaving through all of it. How does that not
sound like a total mess? It works entirely because
of polyrhythms. Okay, explain that to us. What
exactly is a polyrhythm? Simply put, it is when
you have two different rhythms playing at the
exact same time. So imagine your left hand tapping
a steady four -beat pattern on your desk while
your right hand taps a three -beat pattern against
it. Right. It creates this complex rolling feel.
Now, progressive metal is all about complex time
signatures, but African drumming is the actual
origin of complex polyrhythms. Ah, I see. Musically,
it was actually a perfect natural fit. It added
this primal hypnotic layer to the metal that
you just do not hear elsewhere. It proved they
were willing to experiment without dumbing down
the sound like they did back with Lego. That
is fascinating. So instead of simplifying to
try and be catchy, they actually made the music
more complex, but they did it using a completely
different musical vocabulary. Exactly. And then,
just to keep us on our toes, the next album in
2018, Spellbound, is entirely dedicated to Alfred
Hitchcock movies. Yes, the cinematic obsession
comes full circle. Every single song on Spellbound
references a Hitchcock film or character. They
have tracks referencing the Mountain Eagle and
other deep cuts. I love that. It showcases their
love for suspense and atmosphere. They aren't
just writing songs, they're creating soundscapes.
It really gives you a reason to sit down and
listen to the whole album, not just skip through
the singles. Now bring us into the modern era.
We are looking at the period from 2019 through
to early 2026. What defines sadist today? The
defining characteristic of modern sadist is high
-level musicianship. specifically regarding two
instruments, the keyboards and the bass. We mentioned
earlier that Talamanka plays both guitar and
keys, but in the studio, he is layering them
constantly, right? Correct. He creates this massive
wall of sound where you sometimes actually cannot
tell where the guitar ends and the synthesizer
begins, but that is the secret sauce. Sadist
has a long, dedicated history with the fretless
bass. For the listener who might not be a musician,
why does fretless matter? A bass is a bass, right?
Not quite. So a standard bass guitar has those
little metal bars that separate the notes on
the neck. When you press down and play a note,
it is precise. It is locked in. It's either a
C or a C sharp. A fretless bass, much like a
violin or a cello, has a completely smooth neck.
This allows the player to actually slide between
notes. So you get that distinctive kind of moi
sound. Exactly. It sings. It sounds almost liquid.
Now, in standard death metal, the bass is usually
just a rhythmic, metallic clanking noise buried
under the kick drums. Just adding low -end rumble.
Right. But in Sadist, because they use fretless
bass, played by original member Andy Martini
for years, and later by the absolute virtuoso
Jerome Paul Fessling on the Fire Scorch album,
the bass acts as a primary melodic voice. It
adds a jazz fusion elegance to the brutality.
That singing quality really does cut right through
the mix. It makes it sound sophisticated, almost
expensive in a way. So they released Fire Scorched
in May 2022, which was a massive hit with the
critics. And then, jumping to the very recent
past, they announced their 10th studio album,
Something to Pierce, which dropped on March 7,
2025. Ten albums. That is a massive milestone
for any band, especially one in a genre this
extreme and niche. It proves their absolute longevity.
But, and there is always a but, but in the music
industry, 2025 wasn't just a celebration of new
music. We have to talk about the summer of 2025.
We do. And this raises a very important question
about the responsibility of artists in a polarized
world. So here are the facts exactly as we have
them in the sources. In the summer of 2025, sadists
announced they were going to perform in Russia
in November of that year. And obviously, given
the geopolitical climate of the mid 2020s, the
sanctions, the isolation, the ongoing conflicts,
that is a decision that carries incredibly heavy
weight. You don't just accidentally book a tour
there in 2025. No, you don't. Immediately, there
was a huge backlash. The media headlines were
things like sadist and hot water and fans were
erupting on social media. It wasn't just a few
angry comments on a post. It was a full blown
PR crisis. And the band's response was short.
And very specific. They officially stated that
they were apolitical. So what does this all actually
mean for a band's legacy? When a band says they
are apolitical while actively booking a tour
in a country that is heavily sanctioned and isolated,
is that a valid defense anymore? Well, we are
looking at the tension between the pure artist
ideal and the harsh reality of the world. The
band likely views themselves as musicians who
just want to play for their fans, regardless
of what government those fans live under. They
see music as a bridge. Or perhaps they just see
it as a job. They are a niche band. They need
to tour to survive and pay the bills. They might
genuinely believe that their music exists outside
of borders. Right. But the critics argued that
by physically going there, they are inherently
making a political statement, whether they want
to or not. One headline even said they forgot
the world still has Internet. Exactly. In the
1980s or 90s, metal bands played everywhere and
often claimed total ignorance of the local politics.
It was almost a badge of honor to just play the
music and ignore the news. Yeah. But in 2025,
claiming to be apolitical is seen by many people
not as neutrality, but as willful blindness.
Now, we aren't taking a side on whether they
should or shouldn't have gone. Our job is just
to look at the data. Right. Absolutely. And we
can objectively say that the apolitical shield
just doesn't work the way it used to. simply
didn't stop the backlash. It certainly didn't.
And it leaves a bit of a weird mark on what really
should have been a celebratory year for their
10th album. It complicates the legacy, for sure.
You have the musical brilliance on one side,
the fretless bass, the African rhythms, the Hitchcock
themes, and then you have this modern moment
of being seemingly completely out of touch with
the global sentiment. It is a messy ending to
our timeline, but honestly, maybe that fits.
Sadist has never really done things the easy
or clean way. From day one, mixing prog and death
metal, they have always been swimming upstream.
If we connect this to the bigger picture, Sadist's
career is almost a mirror of the metal scene
itself. It started with youthful aggression in
the 90s, went through a total identity crisis
with Nu Metal in the 2000s, found a sophisticated
artistic renaissance in the 2010s, and is now
navigating the absolute minefield of modern ethics
and politics in the 2020s. That is a perfect
way to summarize it. From black screams in a
basement in Genoa to international controversies
and 10 full studio albums. They are survivors.
And whether you love the African jazz fusion
death metal or absolutely hate the nu metal experiments,
you have to respect the sheer tenacity of Tommy
Talamanca. He kept the ship sailing through waters
that would have sunk almost any other band. Absolutely.
So if you are listening to this right now and
you have never heard a single note of Sadist,
where should you start? I would suggest starting
with Tribe if you want that classic 90s sound.
But if you want to hear what makes them truly
unique, go straight for Hyena. It is unlike anything
else in the genre. And maybe save Lego for when
you were feeling particularly adventurous or
maybe masochistic. Or just curious about historical
missteps. Exactly. Before we go, leave us with
something to think about. Well, looking at that
2025 controversy, I want you to consider this.
Heavy metal was born as a genre of rebellion.
Rebellion against norms, against authority, against
polite society. In today's hyper -connected,
hyper -moralized world, is a band claiming to
be apolitical? The ultimate act of rebellion?
Or is it simply being entirely out of touch?
Is ignoring the world the most metal thing you
can do? Or the least? Wow, that is going to keep
me up tonight. Thank you for that. And thank
you all for listening to this deep dive into
the weird, wonderful world of sadist. Go listen
to the music, decide for yourself, and we will
catch you on the next one.