Sabbat Announce ‘Mad Gods and Englishmen’ Boxset

If the post-NWOBHM era threw up very little from the UK metal scene that could scare the world, then Sabbat were a shining, scarifying exception.

From Nottingham, they were brave enough to ditch the cliches, and try a little experimentation and individuality in a music style that seemed, at that point, to be predicated on the obvious. Starting as Hydra in June 1985, with vocalist Martin Walkyier, bassist-Fraser Craske and guitarist Andy Sneap, it was the arrival of drummer Simon Negus that coincided with a name change to more rounded Sabbat.

Two demos, Magik In Theory And Practice and Fragments Of A Faith Forgotten got the young band a significant buzz (especially in Kerrang! magazine and on BBC Radio 1’s – Friday Rock Show), and a deal with Noise Records. Their debut album, 1988’s History Of A Time To Come underlined a sharp potential and by the end of that year, they’d become a permanent five-piece, with the addition of ex-Holosade guitarist Simon Jones. All of which set up what should have been the big international breakthrough, with second album Dreamweaver: Reflections Of Our Yesterdays.

The writing duo of vocalist and lyricist Martin Walkyier combined with the song-writing prowess of guitarist Andy Sneap (now a producer in his own right and guitarist in Judas Priest) were ahead of their time and created two of the most significant albums of the late 80’s. This box set contains both these seminal studio albums plus a recently found Radio 1 session that preceded them, unavailable since its original broadcast in 1987. Completing this collection is their historic performance at the Thrashing East Live concert in East Berlin from 1990, just as the iron curtain fell. It’s presented here on DVD for the first time and also as an album of the show which is released in its entirety for the first time, including a song left off the DVD. This is all finished up with a double sided poster and book containing all of the eloquent lyrics from these songs.