Country of origin:Greece
Location:Athens, Attica
Status:Active

Formed in:2005
Genre:Black Metal
Lyrical themes:Sadness, Negativity, Surrealism
Current label:Purity Through Fire
Years active:2005-present

DISCOGRAPHY

Total Nothingness Full-length 2006 2 (46%)
A Curse in Disguise Full-length 2007 1 (75%)
Promo 2010 Demo 2009
Enlightened by Darkness Full-length 2009 1 (63%)
Black Metal Throne vol. 1 Split 2009
Walking the Paths of Despair Split 2009
Abandoned and Forgotten Full-length 2010 1 (65%)
Black Winter of Desolation Split 2010
...and His Minions Shall Eternally Reign EP 2011 1 (70%)
Fragments of Death / Πανάκεια Split 2011
And Nothing Shalt Remain Split 2012
Forgotten Memories Boxed set 2012
The Lost Empire Split 2013
Devouring the Divine Full-length 2013
Under Victorious Horizons Split 2013
Skygger I Ruiner Compilation 2013
Alpha Voyage EP 2015
Fury of the Doomsday Apostles Split 2015
Utter Nihil Worship Full-length 2016
Sadness of the Winter Moon Split 2017
Guided by the Chants from the Other Side Split 2017
Existence to Serve the Creation (Not the Creator) Split 2018
Wandering Ghosts Split 2019
Eindig / Sad Split 2020
Misty Breath of Ancient Forests Full-length 2020

current line up

Ungod All instruments (2005-present)
See also: Anti-Flesh, Kvele, Necrohell, Obsecration, Slaughtered Priest, Steelwitch, ex-Insidius Infernus, ex-Nargothrond, ex-Necrochakal
Nadir Vocals (2005-present)
See also: Kvele

reviews

The sunrise of my godhating spirit - 57%
autothrall, September 4th, 2011

Total Nothingness is quite a quandary, an album that inevitably falls flat despite having one of the stronger riff-sets I've heard in all the Hellenic scene debuts in the 21st century. The band's name certainly conjures forth an impression of longing, loneliness, and depression, but the riffs actually bear an understated majesty which is not quite as emotionally draining as I might have expected from the album title. But that said, it turns out to be a rather standard effort for the style, due to a few faults which cripple the solid guitars from greater achievements and a truly memorable impact.

For one, the vocals croak along in a familiar rasped fashion without ever possessing any grisly finesse. Quite primitive, and not without a hint of genuine pain, but ultimately rather flat against the writhing, shifting rhythms, which are quickly ignored for. The drums are solid and organic sounding, but the construction of the tracks feels strangely dry, as if these powerful guitars were going to waste. The transitions are all predictable, and the songs slowly seem to lose energy, despite the inherent catchiness of the guitars. Style-wise, there are clear parallels to old Bathory, Burzum, Mayhem and Darkthrone, but the band never feels quite so genuinely dark as any of those influences, nor do they resemble most of their Greek neighbors, with the exception of a few sparse glories, and the generally tendency towards a mid or slower pace.

It's sort of a bummer, because tracks like "Worthless Almighty" and "Pain" definitely manifest some dark, steady and rolling power rhythms that lurch along like a wall of tears and bones through a desolate plain, sucking up any of the living in their path. "Dark" is likewise strong, at least the guitar itself, which is picked almost as if it were some sluggish, surfing abomination. The band does not stick solely to one tempo, and there are faster, blasted moments present (in "Verschlinger"), but other than the actual construction of the central riffs, the composition feels so jaded and lifeless. I realize that's half the point of such a thing, but never did I feel the ominous terrors of self-loathing and suicide that inhabit the better bands of this particular niche.

In truth, Total Nothingness is not all that 'nothing'. Nihilistic, and perhaps bleak, but there's a betrayal here: a taint of warmth that makes the material more fit for a march than a morgue. Speaking of "Nothing", the closing acoustic outro is entirely dull and useless, and the baby like, freakish samples of the intro "Behind the Door" also feel forced and disjointed from the metal. I will say I liked the band's logo quite a bit, and was fascinated by the minimal moniker they had chosen (much like I was with Sigh in their formative years). But the lyrics are quite plebeian, and Total Nothingness is ultimately an uneven start for the Greeks, one they will admittedly improve upon for future works.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

snore - 34%
Noktorn, January 15th, 2011

I have no one to blame but myself here. I knew this was a Regimental re-release of some European band's demo and I'm STILL REVIEWING IT. It's not like that combination of elements has ever gone well- Regimental seems to almost specifically seek out the most mediocre black metal they can find from obscure locations across the globe to give exposure- to what end, I don't know, but exposed they are. 'Total Nothingness' is one of only what feels like a trillion Regimental releases I'm angry that I own. Yeah, it basically sucks. But you knew that, didn't you.

Sad are boring, but I will give them credit for not being boring due to not having a style of their own. They do have a pretty defined style- it's just one that sucks. There's a combination of depressive black metal and folky Hellenic material at work here, and I can't immediately say it sounds like anything else. There's maybe just a trace of Macabre Omen in its rock beat stomp with arrays of riffs drifting overhead, but that's where the similarities end: as bland as this is, it's certainly a unique variety of bland. For the most part, this is slow to midpaced music spiced up by the occasional thrash beat, but that's a rare moment: for most of the run of this album, Sad is perfectly content to plod along with typical depressive drumming and droning riffs under raspy vocals. The riffing style is a combination of arpeggiated shit and buzzing, still tremolo- the typical depressive stuff- but with a deeply Hellenic sense of melody that comes out pretty fully all the time. Not a lot of Norwegian aping on this one.

That all being said it still sucks. The stillness and repetition of this music is almost totally fucking unbearable- the songs don't progress, they just sort of sink. Single riffs will be looped for ages with only slight variations in a counterpoint guitar line to keep the listener focused, and though the melodic style of the riffing is unique, it plays everything so safe and refuses to do anything exciting. Isn't depressive black metal supposed to be about powerful emotion? Then why do I get the sense that Sad is just kinda mopey, not suicidally depressed or anything? Nothing intense or gripping ever happens on this album- it just waffles around in the grey for a half hour and ends. I never thought I'd run across a depressive black metal album that needed MORE melodrama, but I suppose there's a time and a place for everything and I'm in college.

I guess I have to give the band credit for playing with the style a little bit, but the fact is the music is still agonizing to sit through, and not for the right reasons. If it was a little less interminably boring I would give this band the benefit of the doubt and check out some of their later material, but frankly I'm ready to fall asleep just writing about them.

Not so sad, but undoubtedly better - 75%
autothrall, September 16th, 2011
Sad had released a fairly average debut (Total Nothingness) with perhaps the hints of a few good riffs that were dragged down by the listless and ultimately uninspiring architecture of the overall tracks. With A Curse in Disguise, they successfully improve themselves with a richer production standard and an increase in the sheer intensity of the material; a noticeable escalation of potency from its predecessor. But I think by this point it's pretty plain to see that 'Sad' is no so much a depressive black metal outfit as their name implies. At least, not in terms of the emotions that their compositions create. They tend to approach their end times with a more forceful and glorious barrage of thick and soaring guitars that feel more like a mash up of Bathory's glory days (Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart) and other Swedish bands on the melodic side, with perhaps a dash of late 90s Immortal.

These guitars, of course, carry forward the band's original intentions of given the the listener something brighter and balanced to experience than just staring at a gray wall of decay (a trait all too often in the European underground). They're the loudest in the mix here, cruising along in meandering mid-paced swagger ("Chaos Returns", "Forgotten Existence") or a blasted clamor ("Beyond the Great Suffering"). Oftentimes, though, Sad just rocks the fuck out with huge chords reminiscent of Hellhammer, Darkthrone or the later Satyricon records ("True Evil Lies in the Hearts of the Children"), and in all three cases, A Curse in Disguise is a pretty damn good time. I can't promise you that the individual riffs are unique, complex or intricate, but once they break out something like the wall of chords at around :40 in "Alone I Walk the Dark Paths", you know the Greeks can at least write worth a damn, and that this is everything the debut had aspired towards.

Also should mention the vocals, which are far less dry and monotonous here, with a dark and dreary bark to them reminiscent of some of Quorthon's lower groaning, or Abbath on the more recent Immortal albums. They've got just enough character to them to bite into the voluminous swells of guitar, as if they're chopping away steadily at some hardened oak in the middle of a winter wood. Without them, A Curse in Disguise would feel a lot less 'dark', as the actual construction of the riffs are about half-glorious and half-solemn. At any rate, while Sad continues to elude some of the originality that their countrymen once spawned, and the largely suicidal (and weak) lyrics don't match up that well with the actual music, they do that mid-paced Swedish and Norwegian style proud, and this is easily one of the their best records to date, if not THE best.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Thick in presentation, thin in quality - 63%
autothrall, September 29th, 2011
After a sharp spike in quality from the debut Total Nothingness to 2007's Curse in Disguise, Sad were en route to becoming on the stronger stock black metal outfits in Greece. This momentum was drawn to a halt with Enlightened by Darkness, the band's third full-length, which seems like a step back from its predecessor, but let me qualify that statement by saying that little has changed in terms of the musical content. Once again, one should not be misled by the band's moniker: this is hardly the 'depressive' sort of material you might be expecting, but instead a driving, melodic beast with fully Scandinavian influences from Burzum, Mayhem and their like, and a strong guitar tone that dominates the recording.

As with the prior albums, these guitars clutch the steering wheel and never let them go. Sad is foremost a band about the riffs, and it feels like the rasped drawl and an admittedly competent drum performance seem to remain in the back seat. For that reason, there's just not a lot of interesting layering within the songs. They depend wholly on how damn catchy the guitars are, and though some thought was placed in the construction of notes, a lot of songs grow tired in short order. Particularly, these are the longer pieces like "Sweet Loss" or "Ignored", which move with a melodic swagger somewhere between Mayhem and Bathory but simply cannot seem to justify 7 and a half or 8 minutes of constancy. The same goes for "Let Snow Cover the Earth", which opens with a fairly dull blast sequence and then spit its one brighter, emotional riff before exhausting all the surprises in store.

Better are the shorter pieces, like "Soul Scars", which opens with another of these thick, streaming elegies and then manages to belt out a cruel rock groove in the bridge redolent of a Hellhammer or Darkthrone. Or "Destroy Them", which is straight cruising mid-paced black metal following a similar, mean sounding course with brief fits of acceleration. It almost seems like the more drifty and dreamy the band grows here, the less potent and memorable they become. It's a shame, really, because these guitars have great production, the drums crash along appropriately and they're clearly solid as cement. Ultimately, Enlightened by Darkness just doesn't leave the same impact on the listener as A Curse in Disguise. Granted, it's still better than the debut, but not by a large margin.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Greek of putrefaction - 72%
Felix 1666, September 24th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2013, CD, Obscure Abhorrence Productions
NextLast
The filthy scene of Greece is full of infernal creatures that spread the message of vileness and evil. Just think of Ravencult, Nadiwrath or Hate Manifesto. Sad is a long-serving black metal unit. Due to the personal inadequacies that haunt me since my birth, I am not familiar with the entire catalogue of Sad. Anyway, "Devouring the Divine", the fifth full-length, indicates a profound understanding of black metal. Norwegian influences cannot be denied, the dense guitar leads generate a cold atmosphere. Yet the coldest element is contributed by the lead vocals. Do not expect any form of human warmth. The shrill, distorted nagging adds a homicidal component. Yet it neither sounds gnome-like nor dwarfish. The trolls did not come out of the forest, too. Instead, these vocals express the spirit of the sub genre in view of its reckless dedication.

I knew that I had to buy this album as soon as I heard "Unholy Crusade" at YouTube. The mid-paced rhythm and the compelling, razor-sharp riff that appear after 3:04 minutes shape a neck breaking effect which dictated me to order "Devouring the Divine" immediately. This is really an outstanding section, but the album has more fascinating facets. Generally speaking, the band acts energetically without making any shaky compromise. From this follows that the album is for those who like to be part of the closed society of black metal. Experiments are for wimps, idiots or Christians. (Well, some might say that these three words are synonyms for each other, yet I beg to differ. Nevertheless, there is a certain overlap.) Moreover, the impulsive beginning of the closer is really amazing. Sad create a firestorm which is devastating enough to destroy everything that stands in its way. Okay, some songs might be a little bit too long, but almost all of them house more or less great parts. Moreover, despite the strict guidelines of the sub genre, the seven pieces do not lack variety. They are cut from the same cloth without being monotonous. It is just paradoxical that exactly the opener fails to develop a diabolic force. Due to the somehow average leads, this song kicks off the album, defines its direction and that's it.

Sad do not add new elements, their form of black metal is generic. Other bands from Greece, for example Acherontas or Enshadowed, integrate ritualistic or slightly experimental sounds, but Sad rather enjoy the pure black metal brew. The no frills production supports this approach fittingly with the effect that the single components of the album go hand in hand. Consequently, this is the honest work of an authentic (and, of course, filthy and slightly stinky) formation. Carcass once sang about the "Reek of Putrefaction", but I enjoy the music of every Greek of putrefaction. "Devouring the Divine" is no milestone, it could be more compact and more individual. Nevertheless, every black metal fan who buys this album will get a very solid and robust full-length.

Consistent in its tears and trauma - 70%
autothrall, May 21st, 2013

About the worst criticism I can evoke for Devouring the Divine is that it proves another Sad recording that dwells around the median of the black metal genre: standard songwriting techniques with tight execution, but nothing particularly poignant or memorable apart from a few of the harmonic textures of the dual guitar lines. That said, these Greeks have always had a decent standard in terms of production, and their latest is no exception, with a professional mix allowing all the instruments to shine through, while desperately surging below the suicidal snarls and rasps of Nadir's very up-front delivery. In fact, the clarity of the delivery bolsters the strength of the riffs, which are almost exclusively centered on tremolo picking wastelands of sorrowful note progressions that ebb and flow with the meatier transitions into chords.

There's a bit of the 'Transilvanian Hunger Effect' here, in which a lot of songs follow the same general tempo and then seem to bleed into one another, but like that album, I can't say that I found the material boring or redundant in the slightest...simply consistent. A lot of tracks are 6-8 minutes in length, but shorter on average than Abandoned and Forgotten, and each packed with at least a half dozen decent rhythm guitar patterns that allow them some degree of variation. As usual, Sad is more cognizant of Swedish and Norse influences than their Greek neighbors, so the melodies are often built from the mold of bands like Bathory and Dissection, with the strongest resemblance possibly to Arckanum, if not as catchy in their simplicity. The beats are all basic blasts or uptempo trots, without much personality since the focus is so heavily on the guitars and vocals, but there are enough fills to feel like they're not on autopilot. The bass lines offer an added layer of melodic undercurrent to the streaming riffs, but otherwise aren't wholly interesting, which I can somewhat forgive seeing that there's just one guy handling all instruments.

Admittedly, once you've made it past the first few tunes, "Cursed Be the Light" and "Grim Reflection", there aren't a whole lot of surprises, and by the time you hit the finale, "I Bleed a Lake", you feel like you're just treading the same ground as 37-38 minutes leading up to it. But that's Sad. Not a band you're listening to for innovation or a high level of dynamics; albums will differ mildly from one another, but they've always stuck to the same general path and they show no signs of deviation. You know what you're getting before you even you begin listening, and in the case of Devouring the Divine, it's certainly a passable effort. I still think that Ungod is better used in the blackened thrash cult Slaughtered Priest than any of his other projects (Kvele, Necrohell, Insidius Infernus, and this one), but ultimately this is the strongest Sad full-length since A Curse in Disguise, and if you enjoyed any or all of their offerings, then I doubt your feelings will change here. Solid.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

You got that right - 63%
autothrall, June 22nd, 2016
Written based on this version: 2016, CD, Drakkar Productions (Digipak)
Long and forever a fixture of the Hellenic black metal underground, Sad is a band arguably mired in convention to the extent that there is no possibility of them escaping the shadows of the more eclectic, ritualistic or melodic acts of their region, a fact that I'm sure suits Ungod and Nadir pretty well. The emphasis here has always been on pursuing purist, Scandinavian-rooted raw black metal in the tradition of groups like 90s Darkthrone and Horna, where just about all variation on an album will come strictly through the balance of tempos and the minor production details, but little else in terms of lyrical matter, riff construction or stylistic shifts. They've released some solid fare like 2007's A Curse in Darkness and their album previous to this one, Devouring the Divine, but understandably have not flagrantly publicized themselves or revolutionized their material to the extent that they really stand out.

Their sixth full length, Utter Nihil Worship does nothing to deviate this course. Tremolo picked, dire melodies threaded above hammering chords and harrowed rasps, with a production to the rhythm guitars that is slightly fuzzier and more ear-bleeding than on a handful of earlier recordings. They set up songs structurally so that you won't be constantly bombarded with the exact same riffs and speed patterns that surround them, but that's not to say that when you break down what they're writing on a fundamental level, that it's anything you haven't heard a thousand times before. Truly, only a small selection of the riff patterns here stick to me, like the opening salvo in "Aprophenia", which would have sounded truly evil if joined with some haunting, ancient synth lines as per In the Nightside Eclipse; or the raw and roiling, melancholic tribal war pattern that introduces "War, Father of All", immediately conjured up nostalgia for the fell beauty that even this ugly genre of music can conjure when the mood strikes alongside the toms.

Beyond those few moments, though, there's just not a lot of excitement. Stronger riffs with cede to those that are decidedly less compelling, and the vocals or general atmosphere of the record aren't vile or memorable enough to overcome it's stylistic loyalty, to a fault. There are occasionally a few nice bass-lines, and the production was well suited to the genre, if a little dry, but the riffs just don't offer much of a thrill if you've heard so many similar efforts before. Utter Nihil Worship is by no means a bad album, it's just going to depend on how 'authentic' of a course you want your black metal to stay upon, or if you've grown jaded. But I have no evidence that there is any other objective here, and if you're solely in the mood for what the album promises in its title, then I can't imagine you'd be all too put out. Utter Nihil Worship did not earn my interest, but Sad does continue to earn my respect.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com