[3] Guitarist and keyboardist, Tommy Talamanca, has been a constant member throughout the band's existence, as the main composer and co-producer of their musical output.

[5] Sadist was formed in early 1991 by Tommy Talamanca (guitar, keyboards) and Marco 'Peso' Pesenti (drums), who had left the band Necrodeath to start a new project.

Inspired by progressive rock and thrash metal, Talamanca developed the musical concept for the group,[6] while Andy Marchini (bass) and Fabio Bocchiddi (vocals) joined.

In late 1993, the band recorded the music video for the song "Sometimes They Come Back" from the Above the Light album and began a tour that spanned France and the Netherlands.

The band toured to promote the new album in France, Italy, and the Netherlands until June, and their second video, "Tribe," was broadcast all over Europe.

In November, Sadist headlined Mindviews Belgian Metal Convention and later was featured on the Japanese Iron Maiden tribute with their version of "Wrathchild."

The self-titled album Sadist was released in April 2007 and featured a guest appearance by Claudio Simonetti from Goblin on the title track.

[4][19] In November 2018, the album Spellbound was released, inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock,[20] where the songs referred to characters or earlier movies such as The Mountain Eagle.

[22][17] At the start of 2021, the band announced that the recording on a ninth album Firescorched had begun, with Jeroen Paul Thesseling on fretless bass,[23] and Romain Goulon on drums.