Severe Torture - Misanthropic Carnage
2002 - Hammerheart Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Severe Torture website.
Ah, this is more like it. Haven't had any decent brutal death metal in a while. As anyone who follows my reviews will undoubtedly know by now, I'm something of a sucker for ridiculously heavy, over-the-top bludgeonings, particularly if they're backed up by sublimely technical instrumental performances and a sense of malevolence and nastiness that seemingly only gore-orientated death metal and the most necro black metal can provide. Thank the horned one, then, for Dutch death metallers Severe Torture, who provide exactly what I'm after in all respects.
This is extremely fast-paced, brutalising gore-centric death metal from the word go - heavily inspired by the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Immolation and early Morbid Angel, and vaguely reminiscent of (if more serious in intent than) the likes of Gorerotted. Nothing startlingly original, therefore, but then again, since when was originality and innovation high on the list of motivational priorities for fans of brutal death metal? Let's face it, most brutal DM is pretty much entirely derivative of what's gone before, and the true marks of quality in the genre come from each band's proficiency with their instruments and their ability to pen interesting songs.
Severe Torture come out on top here with the greatest of ease - the songs are a whirlwind of technical, blistering riffage that are arranged in a consistently interesting fashion, mixing up blurred, tremolo-picked histrionics with chug-a-thon circle-pit sections without a moment's hesistation. The bass guitar too is clearly audible (unusually for death metal) and impressively played in itself, with the bassist employing occasional slap and pop techniques to add that extra percussive impact to a particularly heavy section, or simply playing at an equally hyperkinetic rate to the guitarist, as in the ending of the album's title track. Vocals, typically, are a near sub-sonic growl, and the drumming is impressively mechanistic but stuffed with catchy fills, rolls and breaks that retain the interest.
An essential release for fans of brutal death metal.
9/10
2002 - Hammerheart Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Severe Torture website.
Ah, this is more like it. Haven't had any decent brutal death metal in a while. As anyone who follows my reviews will undoubtedly know by now, I'm something of a sucker for ridiculously heavy, over-the-top bludgeonings, particularly if they're backed up by sublimely technical instrumental performances and a sense of malevolence and nastiness that seemingly only gore-orientated death metal and the most necro black metal can provide. Thank the horned one, then, for Dutch death metallers Severe Torture, who provide exactly what I'm after in all respects.
This is extremely fast-paced, brutalising gore-centric death metal from the word go - heavily inspired by the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Immolation and early Morbid Angel, and vaguely reminiscent of (if more serious in intent than) the likes of Gorerotted. Nothing startlingly original, therefore, but then again, since when was originality and innovation high on the list of motivational priorities for fans of brutal death metal? Let's face it, most brutal DM is pretty much entirely derivative of what's gone before, and the true marks of quality in the genre come from each band's proficiency with their instruments and their ability to pen interesting songs.
Severe Torture come out on top here with the greatest of ease - the songs are a whirlwind of technical, blistering riffage that are arranged in a consistently interesting fashion, mixing up blurred, tremolo-picked histrionics with chug-a-thon circle-pit sections without a moment's hesistation. The bass guitar too is clearly audible (unusually for death metal) and impressively played in itself, with the bassist employing occasional slap and pop techniques to add that extra percussive impact to a particularly heavy section, or simply playing at an equally hyperkinetic rate to the guitarist, as in the ending of the album's title track. Vocals, typically, are a near sub-sonic growl, and the drumming is impressively mechanistic but stuffed with catchy fills, rolls and breaks that retain the interest.
An essential release for fans of brutal death metal.
9/10
