Tormented - Graveyard Lust EP (2012)

I'm approaching the Graveyard Lust EP as one who has already listened to and reviewed the band's later sophomore full-length, Death Awaits. That was decent, sure, but played it a little too close to the belt of their excellent debut Rotten Death which remains to me one of the benchmarks of this incestuous Swedish retro death movement which has produced far too much chaff by ratio to the wheat. So that sense of jadedness had already set it, that this would not in fact be a band that could evolve the niche in any meaningful way, and would inevitably become lost among so many others who are already on their way out of the collective memory. Graveyard Lust is unfortunately nothing which could have convinced me otherwise, but for the purist at least, it clings so loyally to the trousers of its predecessor that its nose is smothered in denim threads and waste.

It's a little less necrotic and claustrophobic, perhaps, but just as much of an analog for the classic Entombed sounds. Soil sifting Stockholm guitars, dense and dirty to compensate for the lack of interesting riff structures, laden in the baleful melodies that once were woven into records like Left Hand Path and Like an Ever Flowing Stream. Even the song titles don't try to deviate much from their overt influences ("Revel in Blood" instead of "Revel in Flesh", for example). The drums charge along with a d-beat pulse, redolent of Rotten Death, and the main difference between this vocalist and his sleeve-worn influence is the slight layer of distortion given to his inflection, almost like he was on a pickup truck that arrived on the set of the original Night of the Living Dead and barking orders that they need to move the shoot and herd the zombies to another location. In fact, if you look at the cover art here, that's pretty much exactly what they were going for, and it works well enough in the context that this was a live recording, without a lot of retraced overdubs. It definitely has a tightly sprung momentum to it, a nice low end due to the guitar fuzz and bass, so the production is saturated with that unhinged filth that so attracted me to the first album.

Dynamically, it's solid in that they'll hurl a few slower break riffs with drudging chords into the midst of the uptempo charges, but very few of the songs really seem to burn with that same evil as they did in 2009. "Slowly Twisted to Death" and "Sick in the Head" were the better tunes here, probably good enough for the first album but I wouldn't wish to fatten that up any more than needed. This is very much a side project by a bunch of guys who set out to pretend that the year 1993 had never happened yet, and I think they do a bang up job with that formula, but Graveyard Lust certainly doesn't stand out much from a lot of other bands (Mr. Death, Revel in Flesh, Entrails, Miasmal, Gluttony) who also occupy this particular throwback club, and I feel like they might end up as a 'one and done' situation, where the first disc was this great nostalgia trigger which was consistently engaging throughout, released at exactly the right time in this NWOSDM; and then subsequent recordings just feel increasingly redundant. Here's to hoping that a potential third full-length with juggle the rules, jiggle the handle a little bit. Flush the decaying flesh and show us another, fresher layer of skin.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (a brothel of corpses so still)

http://graveyardlust.wordpress.com/

Tormented - Death Awaits (2013)

One of the elements that drew me to the Tormented debut Rotten Death was the voluptuous, soil churning stench of its production values, like a field of fermented dead breaching their earthen bedding and vomiting withered innards all over the listener. It was one of the more refreshing and entertaining spins on the ol' Entombed death & roll formula alongside Death Breath; these were old hands (Facebreaker, Edge of Sanity, Infestdead, etc) at the helm who knew exactly what they were doing, and the result was an enjoyable, if not far-reaching record with just the right timing to its pungent whiff of nostalgia. That said, the ensuing years have seen dozens of not scores of bands striding a similar, cemetery path, and as the Swedes' proper sophomore album arrives, I feel as if I've been irradiated with this particular strain of tributary death metal to the point that I'm well past glowing; burnt down to a disaffected shell. Once in awhile, a group will still come along that kicks ass in this niche, but I was sort of hoping that Tormented itself would expand its horizons and up its game for the follow-up. Something that, well, just hasn't happened...

Death Awaits is more or less Rotten Death 2.0, which might prove enough for the relatively easy to please crowd which devours all of this Entombed/Dismember worship on principle, but just felt less interesting to me the more I listened through. You're still getting those L-G Petrov like barks, the wrenching and dirty guitar tone, and oppressed, swampy production, yet the punkish, bruising d-beat-attuned rhythm guitars do very little to titillate the flesh craved appetite. Chord progressions seem like retreads of their last album and EP (or, to be more accurate, their influences), and at best you're getting a sequence where they'll ring out a few more melodic notes in unison to build an atmosphere. Not a far cry from how Rotten Death was put together, but if anything this successor seems less diabolic in its notation. Possibly because it's just not as fresh a style in 2013. The drums feel a bit crushed or muffled since so much emphasis is put on the guitar and vocal, though not inaudible. Bass guitar is abrasive enough to create that grinding Repulsion feel, fitting since Death Awaits is essentially a missing link between Clandestine and Horrified, but beyond any quirks I've got with the instrument levels, the compositions themselves just don't seem all that intricate or compelling; meaty enough to nod the head along with, but by this point we've just heard it too many times.

This sense of redundancy also carries through to the lyrics and song titles, which just feel like a bunch of obvious tropes slung together into verses and mundane chorus passages. At least three of the song titles involve the world 'death' in some capacity, much like the debut; so nothing unexpected there, but also not much to write home about. A few of the vocal patterns have a syllabic intonation redolent of Tom Araya ("Chemical Warfare", etc), but otherwise they'd seem straight from Wolverine Blues, Clandestine or Uprising. It'd be far more interesting for Tormented to elevate this aesthetic to some transient level; a transformation of that all too familiar tone and riff structure. Maybe not to a Tribulation/Necrovation level, which is rare, but somewhere more distinct and resonant than a mere rehashing of what they've already accomplished. Rotten Death was already the band's old school zombie infestation, and Death Awaits might have benefited as a more atmospheric, delectable paean to horror. As it stands, the sophomore scrapes by on its festered energy alone. 'Decent', sure, and diehards for the niche (Death Breath, Miasmal, Feral, Mr. Death, Puteraeon etc) won't have much of a problem remaining in this comfort zone, but where the first disc gorged on my entrails, this one didn't even break the skin over my stomach.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://graveyardlust.wordpress.com/

Tormented - Rotten Death (2009)

Tormented is the new project of former Edge of Sanity members Robert Karlsson and Andreas Axelson, but rather than revisit the big melodies of their alma mater, they have gone further back to the primordial menace of pure old school Swedish death metal. Bands like Dismember, Entombed, Grave and Grotesque come to mind, but this isn't simply a soulless copy, this actually rocks.

Pure grinding guitars and Axelson's worthy impression of the old school singers like Nicke Andersson dominate the hoarse, distorted bass and the crashing drum calamity. There are no surprises and no gimmicks, just 9 tracks of thrusting brutality. The band loves the old school chorus and really, is anything more needed? "Rotten Death" inaugurates the album with a ripping rhythm that would be equally at home on Left Hand Path or Indecent and Obscene. The lyrics are tidy: not grandiose or clever on any level, but efficient.

Lurking in the darkness, sinister and cold
Feast on human prey in rotten ceremonies of old
Bloody mutilation , sacrificing life
Unleash the armies of the walking putrified

"Vengeance From Beyond the Grave" is a better and nastier track, following the same basic style: big and simple guitar lines, pure 100% death metal with the thick punkish influence that created the 'Swedish sound'. Here you can make out even earlier influences, a little Venom, a little Motorhead. "Blood of the Undead" features a nice, edgy melody over its opening barrage of blossoming death. "Burning Torment" is just fucking sick, familiar yet at the same time fresh with an amazing onslaught of chords. "Death Owns the Night" creates a flowing stream of undeath above a brutal array of power chords. I'd also point out "Tomb of Corpses" with its incredibly morose and bloodied mass of surging violence, but there isn't a single song here which does not succeed with this formula.

I can't cite Rotten Death as an original album, more of a fun new project for true veterans of the Swedish death metal lineage. Where it does stand out is in its filthy, punishing mix. This album sounds like a sewer full to the brim with decaying corpses that suddenly start to rise, write and claw at one another as they crave the flesh of living. Its the perfect pedigree for this horror inspired band, sheer nihilistic noise patterned into percussive devastation. It's great to hear some of these other Edge of Sanity (besides Dan, of course) come through with a great new project. Rotten Death is a great debut album, and a lot of fun if you're a fan of the style.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (their carnage screams perfection)

http://www.tormented.nu/