Sabbat

SABBAT started in 1983 when a band called EVIL consisting of Gezol (b), Ozny (g), Elizaveat (g) Valvin (d) and Toshiya (v) was formed. Except for Ozny the rest of the guys had been playing together since 1981 in high school bands like ABURAMUSHI, HOT ROD and BLACK BEAST. With the high school bands the name of the game was mostly playing covers of NWOBHM acts like IRON MAIDEN and DEMON but with EVIL the aims were immediately set higher. The band started to write material of their own and the first gig was played in August 1983. In early 1984 Toshiya left the band and Gezol started to take care of vocals as well. During the summer the foursome decided to make the band number one priority in their lives and the name of the band is changed for SABBAT. The foundation for the history of a time to come was laid and during the autumn SABBAT delivered their hard, raw and fast metal spiced with VENOM covers to the audiences in their home town Kuwana and surrounding areas. In April 1985 SABBAT hit the studio to record two songs for their first single. The single was released by Gezol's own record label Evil Records and the pressing was 300 copies. In June SABBAT went through the first line-up change as Gezol's brother Samm (a.k.a Gero) replaced Valvin behind the drum kit. In 1986 SABBAT were busy playing gigs throughout Japan which resulted in apperance at Under The Castle festival in August 3rd that was broadcasted on TV. Everything seemed to go smoothly for the band but less than two weeks later they found themselves in a middle of a crisis. SABBAT had gigs booked for two nights in Tokyo but after the first show the hot headed axeman Ozny beat the living daylights out of a guy who had given him the finger during the show. SABBAT played the second night without Ozny as trio. Two weeks later Ozny played one more gig with SABBAT but after that it was mutually agreed that he was out of the band and SABBAT would continue as a trio. In June 1987 SABBAT entered the studio again to record their second 7" entitled 'Born By Evil Blood'. Again the record was released by Evil Records and things looked bright until August came with yet another setback. Because of a death in the family circle Gezol and Samm decided to stop playing live. The farewell show was played in Nagoya on September 13th in front of only 43 people. The decision not to play live wasn't the end of SABBAT - quite the opposite really. In October the band was in the studio again and in early 1988 Evil Records released The third 7" enetiled 'Desecration', and a year later 'The Devil's Sperm Is Cold...' 7" saw the dark of the night. With these 7" singles and EP's SABBAT had started to gain popularity also outside of Japan and in early 1989 Gezol wanted to return to the limelight. Unfortunately Elizaveat wasn't quite as fond of the idea and Samm had already joined SACRIFICE. Despite all this SABBAT played a gig in May with one-night-only line-up: Gezol (b), Barraveat (g), Zorugelion (d) and Possessed Hammer (v). Eventually Gezol succeeded to persuade Elizaveat to play live with SABBAT one more time and the official reunion gig was played October 10th with the following line-up: Gezol (b/v), Elizaveat (g) and Zorugelion (d). Zorugelion was now officially a member of the band replacing his old band mate Samm permanently behind the SABBAT drum kit. Unfortunately the agreement with Elizaveat was for one show only, so in order to keep on playing live SABBAT had to find a new guitar player. Finding the right guy to replace Elizaveat was far from being easy and SABBAT didn't play a single show in 1990 but the fifth 7" on Evil Records was released. 'The Seven Deadly Sins' EP consisted of three songs recorded with Samm still on drums. Although unwilling to play live Elizaveat agreed to help SABBAT in the studio until a new guitar player was found. This made it possible for SABBAT to record a demo tape called 'Sabbatical Demon' which is Zorugelion's first studio recording with the band. And also SABBAT's only official demo! All of a sudden almost a year had passed since the re-union gig and there was still no sign of a suitable guitar player. In fact the two shows played in 1989 were the only shows SABBAT had played during the last three years! Without a new guitarist there would not be any gigs and without any gigs the only sensible option is to go to studio and this is exactly what SABBAT did in October 1990. With Elizaveat doing the guitars the threesome started to record SABBAT's debut full lenght album 'Envenom'. The recordings were almost finished when a guy called Temis Osmond was discovered and it was soon clear he was the guitar player SABBAT had desperately been looking for. Temis Osmond played a couple of solos on 'Envenom' and although in the album credits he is mentioned only as a special guest he was a full member replacing Elizaveat when the CD came out in 1991 (on Evil Records of course). After a long struggle with line-up problems SABBAT were suddenly in a most desirable situation. A fresh debut album out and a new line-up - Gezol (b/v), Temis Osmond (g/v) and Zorugelion (d) - more than willing to launch the band into worldwide success. In September 1991 SABBAT flied to Europe to promote the band and create contacts. A gig was planned in Germany but it never became a reality. There were also plans that Austrian label Lethal Record would release 'Envenom' in Europe but nothing happened. In early 1992 it was time to enter the studio again to record the second full lenght album with Temis Osmond doing all the guitars for the first time. And not only did Temis Osmond play all the guitars but he also shared the lead vocals with Gezol. And also Zorugelion did his share of vocals. 'Evoke' CD was released in summer 1992 by Evil Records. Keeping the Sabbatical momentum going was extremely important so there was no rest for the blacking die hard hamaguri metal machine. In December 1992 SABBAT were in studio again in order to record their third album. And on top of this Japan's number one underground metal magazine F.E.T.U. released its 13th issue in January 1993 which was dedicated to SABBAT. 33 out of the 36 pages of the magazine were full of SABBAT interviews, pictures and detailed info. The third album 'Disembody' was released by Evil Record in early 1993 but already in the autumn SABBAT were back in the studio again. 1994 was to be the 10th anniversary for the band so a special anniversary album consisting of re-recorded versions of old songs was recorded in autumn 1993 but this anniversary album was not going to be the next SABBAT release! In early 1994 SABBAT recorded the fourth album 'Fetishism' and the CD was swiftly released by Evil Records. And right after 'Fetishism' they released the first part of the anniversary album entitled 'Black Up Your Soul...' featuring Elizaveat as a special guest. And the 10th anniversary celebrations would not have been perfect without a special live show that took place in Nagoya on June 6th. During the show the band was joined by special guest stars Samm (d) and Ozny (g)! On top of all celebration SABBAT got a record released outside of Japan for the first time. In the autumn Holycaust Record from USA released a MCD entitled 'Sabbatical Devilucifer' that consisted of old unreleased demo recordings. And as if all this wasn't enough for one year - also the first incarnation of this Sabbatical website was created in 1994. There was no time for hangover in 1995. First Evil Records released 'Live At Blokula' CD which consisted of selected live recording from numerous shows and right after that the second part of the anniversary album entitled '... For Satan And Sacrifice'. Again the anniversary album consisted of re-recorded versions of old songs and featured special guest stars Elizaveat and Ozny. Also in 1995 SABBAT finally got a record out in Europe when Italian label Entropy Records re-released the debut album 'Envenom' for the European markets. The hard work started to pay off finally as even the most bone headed metal maniacs around the world started to acknowledge SABBAT's supreme blacking metal. 1996 started with Holycaust Records releasing the old 'Bloody Countess' tape on LP. In the meanwhile SABBAT had already recorded a new studio album (the fifth one) 'The Dwelling' that consists of only one song that clocks to 59:50! Evil Records released the new album on CD and soon after a live LP 'Live 666 - Japanese Harmageddon' that consisted of the 10th anniversary gig. This LP was the first release in the Harmageddon series that would make SABBAT known worldwide in the following years but it wasn't the only ace Gezol had up on his sleeve. The real ace of spades that Gezol revealed in 1996 was METALUCIFER - a side project of his featuring also the former SABBAT guitar player Elizaveat. Musically METALUCIFER represented traditional '80s metal at its purest - heavy, melodic, and catchy. In fact many of the early METALUCIFER songs were old SABBAT songs that SABBAT used to play live in the '80s but never recorded them in the studio. Catchy songs and excellent musicianship combined with over the top imagery (Heavy Metal Hunter supreme Mr Neal Tanaka grimacing on the record covers in front of a wall decorated with most obscure '80s heavy metal albums) left no chance for a failure - METALUCIFER releases were the sensation of 1996 in the metal world and SABBAT most definitely benefited from all the attention METALUCIFER got. However, METALUCIFER started to live a life of its own so there's no point of following that path any further. In late 1996 SABBAT appeared on Primitive Art Production's 'Headbangers Against Disco' 7"EP with song 'Baby Disco Is Fuck' which is actually yet another unreleased old song called 'Panic In The Head' from the '80s with new lyrics. In March 1997 SABBAT played live outside of Japan for the first time as the first European tour through France, Holland, Germany and Sweden took place. In addition the Harmageddon-serie got continuation in form of 'European Harmageddon' 7" (Merciless Records, Germany) and 'Scandinavian Harmageddon' 7"EP (Primitive Art Productions, Sweden). In 1998 the Harmageddon serie continued with 'East European Harmageddon' 7" (View Beyond Records, Czech Republic), 'American Harmageddon' 7" (Holycaust Records, USA), 'Asian Halmageddon' 7" (Evil Records, China) and 'African Harmageddon' 7" (Mganga Records, Tanzania). In 1999 a long time dream of the band became reality when German label Iron Pegasus Records started to re-release the early SABBAT albums on vinyl. First came out 'Envenom' and 'Evoke' closely followed by 'Sabbatical Rites' LP which was a compilation album consisting of the songs (some of them re-recorded) that originally appeared on the first 7" singles and EP's. In addition to these re-releases Iron Pegasus Records also released the new (i.e. the sixth) studio album 'Karisma' on CD that proved SABBAT to be stronger than ever before. Naturally the Harmageddon series continued also in 1999 with 'Oceanic Harmageddon' 7"EP (Way Of Life Records, Australia), 'South American Harmageddon' 7" (Mega Therion Records, Brazil & Sylphorium Records, Colombia). In addition View Beyond Records released a 7" called 'Sabbatical Demonslaught'. 1999 was the year when a new Japanese label Heavy Metal Super Star started their activity. The agenda of the label was first and foremost to release strickly limited live records of SABBAT for the true Sabbatical maniacs of the world. The first release was 'Live Curse' in CD format but starting from the next release 'Live Kindergarden' the Heavy Metal Super Star releases were on vinyl only - and usually limited to 100 copies or so. There were no y2k problems in the Sabbatcial world. The Harmageddon series continued in the new millennium without a break with 'Sabbatical Magicurse - Baltic Harmageddon' 7" (Sadistic Sodomizer Records, Latvia), 'Sabbatical Magicrucifixion - Iberian harmageddon' 7" (Hibernia Productions, Portugal) and 'Sabbatical Magicrypt - French Harmageddon' 7"EP (End All Life Production, France). In addition Brazilian label Satanic Assault Productions released 'Russian Harmageddon' Picture Disc live LP. The seventh SABBAT studio album 'Satanasword' was released on CD by Iron Pegasus Records and the previous album 'Karisma' got a vinyl release as 'Charisma' Picture Disc LP. The difference between 'Karisma' and 'Charisma' is that the latter one has English lyrics instead of the original Japanese. In the autumn 2000 it was time for the second European tour - this time through Finland and Sweden. Also Heavy Metal Super Star continued their work at their own right releasing 'Live Panica' 10"EP and 'Live Revenge' LP in 2000 plus 'Live Meltdown' Picture Disc LP, 'Live Nuts' LP, 'Live Festa' LP,'Antarctic Harmageddon' LP and 'Live Torture - Unleashed In The West' LP in 2001. All in all six 7" records featruing SABBAT were released in 2001. 'Dietsland Harmageddon' 7" (Berzerker Records, Holland) and 'Minami-Kyushu Harmageddon' 7" (Infernal Thrash Records, Japan) in the Harmageddon-serie plus four split 7"EP's: with UNPURE (Iron Pegasus Record), with GORGON (View Beyond Records), with UNHOLY GRAVE (The Sky Is Red Records, USA) and with TERROR SQUAD (Legions Of Death Records, France). Iron Pegasus continued putting out vinyl re-releases - Both 'Disembody' and 'Satanasword' were released as Picture Dis LP's. Evil Records released the first official SABBAT video 'Sabbatical Videonslaught' that contained both the show SABBAT played in Finland during the European tour 2000. The first show in Turku was shot with multiple professional cameras and the second show from Kuopio is pure shaky home video material. Compared to previous years 2002 seemed like a real sabbatical year for the band. The only studio release of the year was 'Brazilian Demonslaught' 7" (Live Recordings Attack)! However, the highlight of the year most certainly was performign at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany on August 3rd. The festival crowded with over 30,000 metal manaics from all over the world is something the band will never forget. Already in September Heavy Metal Super Star released the Wacken show on 'Live Batan-Q' LP. The other Heavy Metal Super Star releases of the year were 'Live Guanafight' and 'Live Lovefire' LP's. Heavy Metal Super Star activity continued right in Janaury 2003 as they released 'Live Izumoden - Temisosmonslaught' 7" that was recorded live at Temis Osmond's wedding ceremony! Also the much delayed 'Svart Eld - Demonslaught Sverige' 7" was finally released by Monster Nation during the spring. And as if that wasn't enough also a mind-blowing box set entitled 'Live Wacko' was released as a cooperation of three labels (Heavy Metal Super Star Records, Infernal Thrash Records and Ososo Records). The box set consisted of three 7" singles, three CD-Rs, t-shirt, badge and collector's SABBAT doll among other things. In the meantime SABBAT were busy in studio recording their eighth studio album. 'Karmagmassacre' - the eight studio album - was unleashed in June 2003. It was released by Iron Pegasus as usual and this time also by RIP Records in USA. On the latter half of the year Iron Pegasus first unleashed a 2-LP re-release of 'Fetishism' album as well as four diffrent vinyl versions of 'Karmagmassacre'. In the meanwhile three 7"s were released almost simultaneously in the homeland of SABBAT: 'Tribute to FETU - Naniwa Harmageddon' (Ososo Records), 'Zorugelionslaught' (Infernal Tharsh Records) and 'Naniwa Tepoddonslaught' (Evil Dead Records). The last SABBAT release of 2003 was 'Live Hamagurism' LP on Heavy Metal Super Star Records. 2004 - the 20th Anniversary of SABBAT - got a worthy start when Nuclear War Now! Productions released a stunning triple 6" set entitled 'Sabbatical Satanichrist Slaughter'. Without a doubt one of the most beautiful SABBAT items thus far. A SPLIT LP with ABIGAIL entitled 'Kamikaze Splitting Roar' (From Beyond Productions) followed as well as 'Hamaguri Resurrection' 7" (Assaulter Productions)...
Out now!
- 'Hamaguri Hihoukan' 7" on Ososo Records, Japan
- 'Live in Singapore' LP on HMSS Records, Japan
- 'Live in BKK' LP on HMSS Records, Japan
- 'Go Gezol Go!' LP on HMSS Records, Japan
- a couple of DVD's on Evil Records!
Upcoming releases
- 'Sabbatical Visionslaught' DVD on Hells' Headbangers, US, summer 2007 (Produced by Bart Gabriel)
- 'Malaysian Demonslaught' 7" (one new song and Malay version of 'Black Fire')
- 'Musta Tuli' 7" on Vinylucifer, Finland (Black Fire Finnish version)
- 'Canadian Demonslaught' 7"
- Live SPLIT MC w/ NUNSLAUGHTER on Witchhammer Productions, Thailand
- 'Thailand Demonslaught' CD/7"EP on Witchhmammer Productions, Thailand
Re-releases
- 'Live 666 - Japanese Harmageddon' CD on Stygian Shadows, Hungary (Nov/Dec 2007, w/ bonus trx)
- 'Evoke' CD (Thailand version) on Witchhammer Productions, Thailand
Miscallenous bits and pieces of news (some unratified) Ancient Darkness Productions from Denmark are working on a 'Tribute to Sabbat' 2-LP/2-CD to be released in 2007. There's still room for bands that are intersted in participating the project.