You might have caught wind of Sadistic Force a few years ago following the strength of their most recent album, Midnight Assassin, but if you didn’t, now’s the time. The Austin, Texas-based black-thrash trio are out for blood on their new EP, Morbid Odyssey and they’ve given listeners a new track early.
“Strike After Strike” is a pretty straightforward tune, Sadistic Force ripping through a slab of blackened thrash and speed metal with the help of Bewitcher guitarist Matteo Von Bewitcher, who contributes a blazing solo. Alongside the new music, Decibel spoke with Sadistic Force frontman James Oliver about “Strike After Strike,” Morbid Odyssey and balancing the past with the future.
Morbid Odyssey is out on August 22 via Pure Abandon.
Did you start working on these songs right after your last album or have these been in progress longer than that?
They were written relatively recently in the scheme of things. We had a lineup change in March of 2024. When that was solidified, I started writing new songs to showcase the development of our sound due to the addition of new players. There’s a hefty injection of metalized blood in the new incarnation!
You worked with producer Noah Buchanan (Midnight, Nunslaughter) for the mixing and mastering for this EP. Do you think working with Buchanan helped bring out a new part of your sound?
We worked with Noah from Nunslaughter on our first two albums, so it was a case of working with the guy who’d worked with us the most and really knows how this band is supposed to sound on record. I wanted to retain a consistent sound in terms of production now that there’s new members in the band to make things cohesive. We also tracked vocals with engineer Ryan Lee who has been a collaborator since the first days of the project. I think the record sounds sick as fuck.
When announcing this EP, Sadistic Force defined your sound as a “high-octane resurrection of metal’s golden era. How do you find a balance between sticking to the classics and presenting something that feels fresh?
Balance is everything! For this band, that has always meant the combination of different extreme metal elements into the songs while maintaining a traditional heavy metal backbone and a sound that will always have Motörhead in its DNA. I strive to make music that has a modern heaviness to it but is firmly rooted in the old school.
Morbid Odyssey features a few guest spots from Matteo Von Bewitcher (Bewitcher), Tony Rot, and Mark Pursino (Electrocutioner). Why did you choose these musicians?
I chose shredders from bands that I love listening to! I’m extremely picky when it comes to music, and all three of their bands consistently put out metal that gets me hyped up! We’ve played shows with Bewitcher and Electrocutioner and we did a split a few years ago with Tony’s band Hellrot, so all those guys seemed like natural choices for guest solos.
I’ve seen bands lately having guest vocalists on their songs, but not really many guest guitar solos. I figured it would be badass to see what these guys would come up with and they all nailed it!
Talk to us about the track we’re premiering today. When did you start writing it? What’s it about?
“Strike After Strike” was the second song I wrote when I hunkered down and started putting the new material together. This is the one that Matteo Von Bewitcher plays the guest solo on. It’s the spiritual successor to the first single from our debut album, “Strike of the Iron.” You can really hear a ton of development there in terms of technicality and ferocity. It’s also evocative of the band’s unrelenting grind and a sign of things to come. There’s definitely even more hard-hitting, barbaric black thrash on the horizon! Hail Satan.
