Torso - Intelligence of the American Public
Genre: Old-School Death/Thrash Metal
Alright, I have a specific sound in mind for this. Picture it:
Signed to Pavement Records after a short stint with Kraze/Maze in the very early 90s, underground South Dakotan death/thrash metal band Torso were out to prove that the Dakotas had quality metal too. Armed with hatred for the US political system and most of society as a whole, the band crashed through 7 tracks (total playtime of 32 minutes approx.) of straightforward death metal with thrash overtones. The production is stale and poor, highlighting the snare drum for absolutely no reason, and giving it a very tepid and crunchy sound. The riffs, while good, are nothing to write home about. The strength lies in the basslines which do much more than follow the main rhythm guitar lines, though the production tends to not favor them either. The vocals are extremely average and generic deathgrunts with no real power behind them, and the album features mind-numbingly juvenile lyrics (second track "Bleeding Stumpfuck" has the excellent line "Penetrating broken stumps/My deviant needs/Storing them in my shed/Pumped full of my seed!").