Sabbat

***NOW AVAILABLE ON CASSETTE!!! Following the 1993 release of its third album, Disembody, Japan’s SABBAT continued a trend it had established with its first three full-lengths by releasing its fourth album in four consecutive years in 1994. Fetishism largely followed in the same vein of thrashy first-wave black metal as its two immediate predecessors, Evoke and Disembody, which would not necessarily be unexpected given the continuing lineup of GEZOL (bass/lead vocals), TEMIS OSMOND (guitars/keyboards/backing vocals), and ZORUGELION (drums/backing vocals). As with all three previous albums, founding member and original guitarist ELIZAVEAT also maintained a presence by contributing his original artwork for the cover. This enduring continuity aside, Fetishism was anything but a carbon copy of the band’s previous efforts. The average song length increased by over a minute in comparison to Disembody, and more substantively, the compositions of certain songs were characterized by increased complexity. The six-minute instrumental track “Sausine” perhaps best exemplifies this trait, as its length, elaborate construction, and varied movements serve to foreshadow the culmination of this compositional development that was to follow on the single-track album, “The Dwelling,” approximately two years later.