Today, Sadus is well known among metalheads for a couple of albums that might have been too much ahead of their times, and probably failed commercially because of that. Swallowed in Black used to cost a hefty sum of money before the 2007 re-release, to the joy of those of us who have owned the CD since 1991, but it never got the reputation it might have deserved as a beta version of technical death/thrash that was to surface a decade later. Illusions, reportedly, is even better, but Sadus never became a household name, even in metal households, and the recent reunion is more probably a result of the thrash resurgence than a coincidence. But since this is a collection
DTP Demo 1986, or, on more first name terms, Death to Posers, is a re-release of two Sadus demos from 1986 and 1987, and carries the name of the former. The second, Certain Death, only contains two tracks, but fits in wonderfully. The thrash on the compilation consists of pure, angry thrash in somewhat german vein, and a substantial fraction of death metal influence/resemblance despite the fact that the songs predate the mighty Altars of Madness by a couple of years.
The music actually has hints of a multitude of other bands. Some parts distantly resemble Bonded by Blood, while early Exodus springs to mind at some spots; Possesed is easier to find here than liver in a Sefood Sub. Avoiding comparisons to Dark Angel is difficult, and perhaps even Pestilence owes these guys a beer or twenty. Even the almighty, sacred, revered, corpse-reeking bunch of gods, Rigor Mortis, springs to mind occasionally. However, all these comparisons are invalid, because Sadus came first. Death to Posers was most likely recorded before the others had even had a chance of influencing Sadus, with the possible exception of Seven Churches. This pair of demos holds pretty unique and original stuff, and if there was justice in the world, these demos would nowadays be known as pioneers right next to Possesed.
Sadus does not go quite as far in the technicality part of their thrash as they later did on Swallowed in Black, and by today's standards, this is not technical thrash. That isn't to say the songs don't hold a couple of neat tricks up their sleeves. The speed in sometimes incredible, the riffs roll onwards in the best fashion of the 3rd Shock Army, and the vocals are angry as hell. Even the bass, audible even to a layman, does some pretty nifty things occasionally. And the whole gives you the finger and reminds your mom of the gig she attended in 1987, the one that lead to her training bra being lost and some bruises and a shitload of hickeys... that's why she doesn't want you to listen to this, not any any of that Jesus-related bullcrap she uses as an excuse.
What's perhaps more important than the technicality or the supposed cultness status of the compilation - the antithesis of "cult" that it is - when you're standing next to the CD rack in a record store and contemplating whether or not to buy this particular collection of old songs, is the fact that the furious metal on this compilation is very, very enjoyable. It has the old-fashioned charm combined with more aggression than virtually anything from those years, and it definitely has aged well. This is pure ear candy, and wasting your money on DTP Demo 1986 means your money doesn't go to waste. If this is a cash grab, it's one hell of a respectable cash grab among all the 80s thrash cash grabs in the world. Well worth your allowance, you zit-faced little fuck. Go buy!
