Review / 200 Words Or Less
Sadville
Make Ready the Cross

Inkblot (2006) Michael

Sadville – Make Ready the Cross cover artwork
Sadville – Make Ready the Cross — Inkblot, 2006

Tennessee natives Sadville without a doubt could be the biggest misnomer for a group. These dudes don't play sad bastard emo at all. Instead they play stoner metal with elements of doom and hardcore punk. You can only imagine the relief when I heard the music after looking at their name.

Make Ready the Cross is seven tracks long, but it flies by when you put it on your record player. A mixture of southern rock and speeding metal riffs fuels the songs. Most of the songs come off as the unwanted child of Black Sabbath, High on Fire, and Born Against. Sure, this sound has been tackled before, but what they lack in originality they make up for in politically oriented lyrics and in witty song titles. The best are "Your Zao Sticker Won't get you into Heaven Anymore" and "George Walker Bush, Texas Ranger."

Sadville delivered an unexpected LP of tunes that I can rock out to. If you're seeking some metal music that'll get your foot tapping as well as your brain thinking, grab a copy of this release.

7.0 / 10Michael • September 26, 2007

Sadville – Make Ready the Cross cover artwork
Sadville – Make Ready the Cross — Inkblot, 2006

Recently-posted album reviews

Action/Adventure

Ever After
Pure Noise (2025)

Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more

217

In Your Gaze
Time To Kill (2025)

If you didn’t know, hardcore and punk are alive and thriving in Italy. When I come across bands from there, their scene never ceases to amaze me. Italy gave us Raw Power and Negazione in the ’80s, Slander and Strength Approach in the 2010s. Now 217 picks up that lineage with their own mix of fire and reflection by keeping … Read more

Ugly Stick

Absinthe
Hovercraft Records (2025)

Contrary to what I said on Vh1’s Behind the Music, Tim from Hovercraft is one of my favourite human beings. I suppose in some ways that’s not saying much but Tim plays in one of my favourite bands, I’m a fan of his art and on top of those two things and running a label, his day job is saving … Read more