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|---|---|
| Origin |  Kuwana, Japan |
| Genre(s) | Black metal Thrash metal |
| Years active | 1983 - present |
| Label(s) | Evil Records Heavy Metal Super Star Records |
| Website | Sabbatical Website |
| Members | |
| Zorugelion Gezol |
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Sabbat is the name of a Japanese black metal band, formed in the early 1980s. On some releases, they showcase a more thrash influenced sound.
Contents |
History
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 them had been playing together since 1981 in high school bands like Aburamushi, Hot Rod and Black Beast. With the high school bands they mostly played covers of NWOBHM acts like Iron Maiden and Demon, but with Evil the aim was 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 a number one priority in their lives and the name of the band changed to Sabbat. The foundation for their history 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 appearance 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 after the first show 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 a 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. 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 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 was to go to the studio and this is what Sabbat did in October 1990. With Elizaveat doing the guitars the threesome started to record Sabbat's debut full length 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 flew 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 length 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 black 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. The following year 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. There was nothing that could stop SABBAT now...
Members
Current members
- Gezol - bass guitar and vocals
- Zorugelion - drums and vocals
Former members
- Temis Osmond - guitar and vocals
- Elizaveat - guitar
- Samm a.k.a Gero - drums
- Ozny - guitar
- Valvin - drums
Discography
Albums
- Envenom (Evil Records 1991)
- Evoke (Evil Records 1992)
- Disembody - (Evil Records 1993)
- Fetishism - (Evil Records 1994)
- Black Up Your Soul (Evil Records 1994)
- Live At Blokula (Evil Records 1995)
- ... For Satan and Sacrifice (Evil Records 1995)
- Live 666 - Japanese Armageddon (Evil Records 1996)
- Bloody Countess - (Holycaust Records 1996)
- The Dwelling: The Melody of Death Mask (Evil Records 1996)
- Live Curse (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 1999)
- Sabbatical Rites (Iron Pegasus Records 1999)
- Live Kindergarden (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 1999)
- Live Panica (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 1999)
- Karisma (Iron Pegasus Records 1999)
- Live Revenge (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2000)
- Live Devil (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2000)
- Antarctic Harmageddon (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2001)
- Live Meltdown (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2001)
- Live Nuts (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2001)
- Satanasword (Iron Pegasus Records 2001)
- Fetishism (Iron Pegasus Records 2003)
- Karmagmassacre (Iron Pegasus Records 2003)
- Live Hamagarism (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2003)
- Live Resurrection (Monster Nation Records 2004)
- Geionslaught 1986 (Time Before Time 2005)
- Live Sabbatical Hamaguri Queen (Nuclear War Now Records 2005)
- Brooklyn Backfire (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2005)
- Sabbatical Gorgonslaught live split CD with Gorgon (Witchhammer Production 2005)
- Sabbatical Siamese Christ Beheading (Witchhammer Production 2006)
- Tribute to Temis (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2006)
Singles/EPs
- Sabbat EP (Evil Records 1985)
- Born By Evil Blood EP (Evil Records 1987)
- Desecration EP (Evil Records 1988)
- The Devil’s Sperm Is Cold EP (Evil Records 1989)
- The Seven Deadly Sins EP (Evil Records 1990)
- Sabbatical Devilucifer EP (Holycaust Records 1990)
- Scandinavian Harmageddon EP (Primitive Art Records 1997)
- European Harmageddon EP (Merciless Records 1997)
- East European Harmageddon EP (View Beyond Records 1989)
- American Harmageddon EP (Holycaust Records 1998)
- Oceanic Harmageddon EP (Way of Life Records 1998)
- Asian Harmageddon EP (Evil Records 1998)
- African Harmageddon EP (Maganga Records 1998)
- Sabbatical Magicurse- Baltic Harmageddon EP (Sadistic Sodomizer Records 1999)
- Sabbatical Demonslaught EP (View Beyond Records 1999)
- South American Harmageddon EP (Mega Therion Records 1999)
- Sabbatical Magicrucifixion - Iberian Harmageddon EP (Hibernia Productions 2000)
- Sabbatical Magicrypt - French Harmageddon EP (EAL Productions 2000)
- "Whisky Time" split with Imperial (Warlord Records 2000)
- "Le Feu Noir" split with Terror Squad (Legions of Death Records 2001)
- "Hellfire (Live)" split with Unholy Grave (The Sky is Red Records 2001)
- "Rain of Terror" split with Gorgon (View Beyond Records 2001)
- Minami-Kyushu Harmageddon - Sabbatical Magichaos EP (Infernal Trash Records 2001)
- Dietsland Harmageddon - Sabbatical Magicrest EP (Bezerker Records 2001)
- Sabbatical Splitombstone EP (Iron Pegasus 2001)
- Brazilian Demonslaught (Live Recordings Attack!!! Records 2002)
- Elizaveatonslaught (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2003)
- Naniwa Tepoddonslaught (Evil Records 2003)
- Live Izumoden - Temisosmonslaught (Heavy Metal Super Star Records 2003)
- Valvinonslaught (Infernal Trash Records 2003)
- Gezonslaught (Ososo Records 2003)
- Zorugelionslaught (Infernal Trash Records 2003)
- F.E.T.U. Tribute (Ososo Records 2003)
- Svart Eld - Demonslaught Sverige (Monster Nation Records 2003)
- Hamaguri Resurrection (Assaulter Productions 2004)
- Sabbatical Satanichrist Slaughter (Nuclear War Now! Records 2004)
- Tokyo Genocidemonslaught split 7" with Asbestos (Metal Crusade Prod 2005)
- Satanas Francisconslaught (Bay Area Sabbatical Maniacs Records 2005)
- Icelandic & Greenlandic Demonslaught (From Beyond Productions 2006)
Compilation/Reissue
- Sabbat... And the Sabbatical Queen (RIP Records 2004)
- Sabbatical Holocaust (Time Before Time Records 2004)
