As you can imagine there are plenty of bands around the world with the Torment moniker as this French act is one of over 30 just in the metal genre. The word Torment lends itself so well to producing good logos due to the symmetry of the letter T bookended in the word as this band has done justice to the word by producing their own fine logo rendering and also a cool piece of cover art for this debut release.
After the eerie intro track that oozes into the album with ghoulish intent supplied with whispered voices and ambient noises, the album launches with ‘Deathwish’ as the cruel scraping grating guitar sound harks back to the 90s when productions were minimalised, usually due to budgets, but here it’s done for effect. Musically the song situates itself within a gore metal subgenre for its abrasiveness with gurgling vocals and a tonally high guitar sound that makes the song sound that much sharper.
‘Last Winter’ has a fine opening riff, increasing the speed but not into blast realms, maintaining the gore metal strains with vomitous vocals and rumbling bass undercurrents that permeate the mix as the song unveils a decent lead break as the much calmer opening to ‘Rituals’ offers a good contrast. Deeply atmospheric with acoustic posturing the song has a horror movie soundscape initially before the metal thrusts in utilising a formidable blast beat with a crisp snare sound as the vocals take on a blackened vibe with the rasping tone. The swerving tempo shifts work extremely well as the song dives into a gritty riff structure part way in allowing a slow double kick to force its way in. The song is catchy in its own way as that bass undercurrent continues to rumble through the song as a groove infestation is unfurled to great effect.
I enjoyed the slamming styled fade-in to ‘Rebirth’ as the double bass has a modern vibe that Kataklysm fans can relate to before the song twists into that blackened aura again with a piercing guitar riff before the song erupts into blast territory. The slow crunching riff to ‘Psychotic’ is slam based with a cool dense ethos before the excellent riff break and punchy increase in speed as ‘Silent Scream’ changes the mood massively with keyboard adornments on its intro sequence, again offering a horror styled aura before the riff phases in. The song has a cool dramatic approach before the explosive blasting which turns the track on its head.
Upbeat and infectious ‘Swarm’ is a groove laden beast with Carcass like hooks and vocal styling as the song, like many of the others, completely inverts itself by veering off into new territory, this time drifting into melodic phrasing momentarily like it’s pausing for a moment to think about which direction to go. Reasserting itself it returns to the original style right until the last 30 seconds where it lashes out with penetrating hook which is very effective. Closing the album is the lengthy title track, a far more expansive composition where a brief isolated guitar riff is shattered by chaotic drum fill and cymbal sequencing that at times lacks a little fluidity until everything gels together. The transposition into acoustic work is subtly executed creating a morose atmosphere as delicate bass is layered in enhancing the despondency when the guitar work filters through. As the song reaffirms itself with a jagged riff it introduces a bouncy structure and whilst the each individual component of the title track is excellent fixing them together is a tad disjointed and needs smoothing over but doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment.
They may have a band name more prevalent than chlamydia but this French act has quirkily constructed songs replete with groove infestation, brutalising finesse and a sense for the macabre.
(8/10 Martin Harris)
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