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Wartorn and Severe Torture…

Wartorn - The Sanctuary of Moral TurpitudeI gave an advance CD-R of Wartorn's debut, "The Sanctuary of Moral Turpitude", a full review on the old version of the site awhile back, but now that it's finally been officially released by the band I figured I'd give it another pass to try and get more people to check this shit out. These guys are one of the best metal bands to come out of Richmond in quite some time, and despite a few minor (and understandable) shortcomings with the recording due to budgetary constraints they crank out some awesome songwriting that cohesively combines just about every form of death metal you can imagine—from grinding blasts, to moshy grooves, to the classic chunkiness of both American and European styles... or contemporary fits of dissonance and frenzied technicality as well. Sadly the band's had a lot of trouble keeping a stable lineup in place, but they're still going strong, despite 3/5 of the members having been replaced since the time of this recording. But I really hope they start to garner some label interest, because a more fluid and in your face set of production values could allow these cats to unload a real whopper, and I truly believe that Wartorn has a lot to offer if they can just get the right opportunities in front of 'em.

Wartorn "Acts of Treason"
Wartorn "Architect of My Own Misery"

The band's website seems to be down right now, and I'm not sure what they're doing in terms of mailorder at the moment, so if you like what you hear, get in touch via their MySpace page and see what you can do about picking up a copy.

Severe Torture - Fall of the DespisedSevere Torture has been around for longer than I thought, and I actually don't think I've heard any of their material since the "Feasting on Blood" CD back in 2000, which I seem to recall thinking was simply average. Not that the Dutch act is breaking down the walls of the genre these days or anything, but "Fall of the Despised", their latest full-length (and first for Earache, benefits from an excellently beefy recording—plus songwriting that certainly stays true to the traditional face of the genre and seems perhaps more influenced by the Floridian classics than anything else. A great mix of tempos is put forth complementing riffs that capture enough feel to remain interesting throughout, accented by a couple of truly powerful moments of midpaced dissonance (check out the latter chunk of the awesome "End of Christ") and loads of excellent melodic lead breaks. I'm also into the great sense of vocal variation from typical growls to strained midrange snarls that are very reminiscent of Patrick Mameli from fellow Dutch exports Pestilence. In addition to pleasing my old school mentality, Severe Torture definitely keeps up with the times in terms of musicianship and arrangements, but the bottom line is that I like my death metal pretty meaty, so with this record these guys have totally nailed it.

Severe Torture "End of Christ"
Severe Torture "Endless Strain of Cadavers"

You know how it goes, don't be a leech. Pick it up if you're into it:

@ The End Records

Comments

  1. hmm. this is good. i like Severe Torture.

    1.30.2006 | By Anonymous

  2. Real fun stuff, glad to see there’s still bands out there that can do some competant old-school death. Thanks!

    2.1.2006 | By Anonymous

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