Drew saw them last year at their regional Metal to the Masses competition, a series of gigs which unfortunately came to a grinding halt because a few people got a cough or something. This is my first time listening to them, so my eardrums are prepped.
The opening, and title, track promises a lot. Not diving in feet first, they’ve gone for the atmospheric build with keyboards and some nicely plunked clean guitars. And then the one minute mark and all hell breaks loose. No buggering about. Guitars set to “crunch”, Joe’s drums pounding and nice death vocals over a mainly thrash sound, Tortured Demon aren’t out to create any new genres. What they have managed is to pick up all the good bits from existing heavy shit and sling them into a very well produced pile.
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I know this is track one, but I can state right now that I simply find it hard to believe the musicians behind it are so young. Sure, it’s obviously been well put together in a studio so it’s bound to flatter – but that’s a benefit every artist has. They still need to be able to write and play, and on the evidence here we have bags of talent being justly shown off.
This creativity and showmanship continues through “Cold Blood” (oh, man, what an intro… what an intro), “A Knee To The Face of Corruption”, “The Invasion” and onward. “Knee” is going to cause serious damage at gigs, and isn’t the only chaos-ro on the album. “Cut The Budget….Cut Your Throat” is so buzzsaw fast it brings old Nuclear Assault to mind, thrash for thrash’s sake. The intro to Usurper has a great “come on and get up” nu-metal tone to it that could just have done with a bit more “bounce”, but which still shows that though Tortured Demon perhaps have their niche they’re more than happy to reach outside it.
If there’s a track that stands out as being notably different from the rest, it’s the lengthy (6:37) “Sufferers Of The New Plague” which makes the most of its runtime by featuring some particularly slow and heavy segments, and some clean melodic vocals dotted throughout. If I had to nitpick, it’s these vocals on “Sufferers” and a couple of other tracks that need a little work.
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That’s not to say that the other songs are “samey” as such. Tortured Demon have breathed fresh life into the familiar, and created an album that would have rode high back in the days when classic thrash was starting to add a twist of darker influences. It still stands out today, just in a more crowded field, and if this is what they’re producing now… other bands need to watch their backs.
Oh, and for those crossing your fingers regarding Badger Fest 2021… they’re on the lineup!
Check out all the bands we review in 2021 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
In Desperation’s Grip is out on February 5th
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