Band:	Sadus
Album:	Illusions / Chemical Exposure
Style:	Death metal, Technical thrash metal
Release date:	1988
Guest review by:	graywolf87

01. Certain Death
02. Undead
03. Sadus Attack
04. Torture
05. And Then You Die
06. Hands Of Fate
07. Twisted Face
08. Fight Or Die
09. Illusions
10. Chemical Exposure
11. Sadus Attack [Death To Posers demo]
12. Torture [Death To Posers demo]
13. Kill Team [Death To Posers demo]
14. Desolator [Death To Posers demo]
15. Fight Or Die [Death To Posers demo]
16. Twisted Face [Death To Posers demo]
17. Number One [Certain Death demo]
18. Hands Of Hate [Certain Death demo]
19. Certain Death [video]

A classic among death/thrash listeners, this is by far Sadus' most extreme, aggressive and fastest album. Considered to be one of the fastest bands ever to exist, this album was the first creation of pure adrenaline and madness by the masters of speed death/thrash.

Under the guidance of "Metal Church" guitarist (John Marshall) the debut LP of Illusions sold 7,000 copies catching the attention of Roadrunner Records label. Sadus became known for their intensive/unmatched energy and speedy "in your face" performance that left fans in the late 80s with broken necks and out of breath. The solid line up that grew up knowing each other since High School (Darren Travis: Vocals/guitar, Rob Moor: guitar, Steve DiGiorgio: Bass, Jon Allen: drums) contributed to the effectiveness of this album by creating a sound different from the usual thrash band only to be compared with (but not similar to) bands like Sepultura, Obituary, Kreator, etc who revolutionized the genre into a more rough, extreme, dark and heavier sound known today as death/thrash.

Darren's voice on Illusions (later called Chemical Exposure) is brutal and faster than anything on earth yet he follows and goes along with the rhythm pattern as if everything was calculated and planned before the record was ever created. Technical Bass performance by Steve D, who put Sadus on the map later when he joined Death for their "Human" album giving Steve the chance to flourish and to be respected as a talented musician. Insane speedy soloing by Rob and Darren will explode your mind on every note they play and every riff played along together are perfectly executed to follow Jon's superb drumming performance leaving you with mouth open from song one to ten. Ever heard a militia marching? The drumming is aggressive in every sense of the word served as the base to develop the most extreme of all sounds.

Songs such as "Certain Death," which is no doubt Sadus' spit-in-your face trademark song that left more than one fan with a headache from head banging too much for a couple of days (including me), are not to be missed. "Torture," "Fight Or Die" are but pleasure to the lusted ears of extreme head bangers. The insane tempos, the catchy rhythm, the lightning fast soloing, from the beginning to end of this album was destined to rule and to be the finest from Sadus' history...a classic among classics, one of the best Death/Thrash bands and albums coming from the U.S of A. ATTAAACKK!!!!!!