Style: black metal, death metal
Label: Osmose Productions
Year: 1999
Home: Australia
Members: Rok ~ vocals
Rev. Kriss Hades ~ guitar
Dave Slave ~ bass
Sloth ~ drums
Claimed as one of the most influencial underground death metal bands in Australia Sad-Ex, as they're known to fans, might be more famous for their crazy antics on stage, often nonsensical & profane interview style & continuous threats to not perform over their decade in existence, which they rarely did as it was, or just plain break-up for the up-teenth time. Ignoring the shock theater the music is actually, maybe even surprising to some, quite riveting & definitely one of the better death metal bands out there, or at least in the extreme/grindcore end of the spectrum that also includes such bands as Nunslaughter, Bolt Thrower, Impaled Nazarene among countless others. They are definitely one of the few death metal bands in the scene where the vocals are understandable. Understandable in terms of what's being vocalized by frontman Rok, not necessarily what it all means. A typical song might consist of seemingly improvised random Satanic imagery, the repeated use of the word 'fuck' - or 'fukk' in Sad-Ex speak - & just pure growling & gagging moving between speaking & rhythmic quasi-singing/growling. It's as over the top as black metal gets & would be Spinal Tap comedic if it wasn't for the seriousness that Rok & Co. take when doing interviews & presenting themselves as a group of crazy guys, but incredibly-dedicated-to-making-great-metal crazy guys. While the music itself is a pure onslaught of beats & speed that verges on sounding as improvised as the lyrics than actually cohesive musical units. Or, as one reviewer once wrote - 'unhinged'. Though, it's an unhinged onslaught that actually hides some rather talented & exploratory playing. Drums furiously imitate the beats of Hell while the guitarist takes full advantage of the range guitar & octave large melodic riffs & not just little couple note bits that bands like to call melodic but lack any real scaler movement. Guitarist Rev. Kriss Hades has also been known to play his guitar with a violin bow in the tradition of Jimmy Page & earlier Jeff Beck. In the midst of this frenzy you'll even discover little bass riffs of incredible speeds & dexterity by the under-rated Dave Slave. Sad-Ex formed in 1986, recording 3 albums before a final live show in 1999 followed by two more albums, breaking up & then reuniting in 2009 for a much heralded 2011 performance at the first annual Australian Metal Awards. Though famous for their over the top live show they only played a couple shows a year - if any. Their albums were released by French label Osmose Productions essentially meaning that they'd never get the same attention in America that their fellow Australian metalheads & Europeans give them. Of all their album, all worth checking out,
K.A.O.S. is probably the best introduction as it has some of the best production values, most frantic songs & is incredibly close to their live sound. Further, other albums contain many ambiatic black metal dirges while
K.A.O.S. is pure adrenaline down the line. It's not about pushing any musical boundaries except that of walking the line of musical chaos. If you love black metal but don't know Sad-Ex you're missing a vital part of the international scene. This is a band that's quoted as an inspiration by Norwegian black metalheads & bands ... so, if you don't know Sad-Ex then what school have you learned your black metal hard knocks from? This is extreme metal with no holds barr that rocks with no pretentions & no mere band of gimmicks as some might believe.
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