Sadist - Hyaena

This is an Italian progressive death metal band, who actually formed in 1990, they have a fair few albums under their belts, with this one, I do find a lot of similarities from other bands that have come before them. The opener ‘The Lonely Mountain’ has a few vocal similarities to Death, however, the poor addition of keyboards really takes away the aggression that this band can clearly produce based on the wizardry from the guitar technicalities, and this is such a shame, and let’s not forget the jazz interlude after about four minutes.

That said, whether you like this sub-genre or not, the musicianship and clever combinations in the song arrangements really set the bar high and even with a track like the track ‘Pachycrocuta’ which is more a progressive metal tune, the standard is top drawer. That said, there are some songs that do test your endurance and musical taste, there’s not a bad one, but I can’t really put into words, it doesn’t flow that easily this album. There is a lot going on, many different moods to gain from listening to the music, it’s a tough one to pin point even though musically this is extremely virtuosic but let down by a few minor niggles here and there.

The heavy inclusion of jazz and keyboards (take ‘Scratching Rocks’ intro for example) may put a lot of casual listeners off, the progressive death purists will find this above average, it’s a double edge sword that you won’t win an argument with, so in fact is that a stroke of genius? You know, an album which the majority may agree to disagree with…


  1. The Lonely Mountain
  2. Pachycrocuta
  3. Bouki
  4. The Devil Riding The Evil Steed
  5. Scavenger And Thief
  6. Gadawan Kura
  7. Eternal Enemies
  8. African Devourers
  9. Scratching Rocks
  10. Genital Mask