The old school of metal is a place that so many metalheads don’t want to leave. Be it either because they’re incapable of letting go of the past or they simply want to keep the sound going out of love, it seems that old school death metal refuses to disappear more than any other classic style of metal. Many bands are really hit or miss with me when they take the old school path, but it’s because of bands like Torturer that always have me crawling back for more of that sweet and delicious death we can’t get anywhere else in the world of music.
To be perfectly honest, I was immediately turned off by that cover art because it just doesn’t resonate well with me, but it’s the idea of some good old school death with a devilish pairing with thrash that made me go headfirst into this debut from this Canadian quartet. Right off the bat, “Die In Pain” felt about what I expected with the intro being unnerving thematically and sets the stage for the following nine tracks. Yet, it was but an echo to the full-on storm that Torturer wrought with the chaotic twister of blood and bone that is the entirety of “Die In Pain”. Riffs galore and a ferocious energy that wouldn’t let up for the very end of the world, there Torturer really impresses with “Die In Pain” as it’s a real tour de force of death/thrash metal in such a quality that I haven’t seen in the underground since Biotoxic Warfare three years ago. There’s virtually no wasted time with “Die In Pain” because these guys already know on their debut full-length album that they know how to maximize their time to allow for maximum intensity while also showing their potential along with their undeniable skill.
It’s always been worrisome to know what would happen to the old school of death metal in time, but with bands like Torturer around there’s no need to ever think that will ever come to pass. “Die In Pain” is as thunderous of a debut as I could ever ask for from a band that I’ve never heard of. With the list of bands that I always have whom I need to keep a close eye on, I’m happily adding Torturer to that list because if we can come to expect albums like “Die In Pain” in the future then I want to be around to hear every delicious morsel of it.
LISTEN to “Die In Pain” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Torturer on Facebook here.
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