I picked this up yesterday used. I remembered seeing their name somewhere, and I hoped for some solid death metal. I got what I was hoping for.
With a name like "Severe Torture" I was expecting brutal death metal. Instead this is fairly old-school sounding death metal (MA lists them as brutal death but at least with this album that is not the case). The vocals are completely average mid-level growls, with the occasional tortured shout. They work just fine, but are nothing special.
The guitars chug nicely, and the band makes excellent use of slightly dissonant riffs. The solos are frantic thrash-style wailing that works great. Most of the songs are fairly uptempo, but the band isn't afraid to slow down. There are some memorable riffs on here (the intro to Countless Villains is my favorite), but overall the riffing is pretty average.
The drumming on this album is excellent. The drummer holds back on the blast beats, using them to great effect but not too much. He also holds back on the double bass - most death metal albums I've heard have constant double bass, but not here. However, again he uses it plenty and at the right times. The drums keep along and accentuate the riffs brilliantly (I can't remember the last time a guitar chug over double bass sounded so cool). The bass is of course buried completely in the mix.
Overall, I would recommend this if: A, you see it used and cheap, or B, you're a rich fuck who can buy anything he wants and wants some good death metal.
With a name like "Severe Torture" I was expecting brutal death metal. Instead this is fairly old-school sounding death metal (MA lists them as brutal death but at least with this album that is not the case). The vocals are completely average mid-level growls, with the occasional tortured shout. They work just fine, but are nothing special.
The guitars chug nicely, and the band makes excellent use of slightly dissonant riffs. The solos are frantic thrash-style wailing that works great. Most of the songs are fairly uptempo, but the band isn't afraid to slow down. There are some memorable riffs on here (the intro to Countless Villains is my favorite), but overall the riffing is pretty average.
The drumming on this album is excellent. The drummer holds back on the blast beats, using them to great effect but not too much. He also holds back on the double bass - most death metal albums I've heard have constant double bass, but not here. However, again he uses it plenty and at the right times. The drums keep along and accentuate the riffs brilliantly (I can't remember the last time a guitar chug over double bass sounded so cool). The bass is of course buried completely in the mix.
Overall, I would recommend this if: A, you see it used and cheap, or B, you're a rich fuck who can buy anything he wants and wants some good death metal.
