Rating: 7.0

Country: Belgium

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Diabolical Constellation

Track list:
1. Job Part I: The Fall/The Reckoning
2. Job Part II: Restless Farewell
3. And Then The Madness Comes…
4. The Voices [MP3]
5. Expect My Serpent Judas No. 1
6. Beyond Obscurity
7. Confessions Of Routine Sins [MP3]
8. Enlightened
9. Petrified Soul/ Ritmo Del Gringo

Band Website: Torment

Torment - Forgive The Ignorant

Contrary to what you might think, it's glaringly obvious that death metal has taken a real nosedive over the past decade. Gone are the horrific strains of Slaughter, Necrovore, Death Strike and Master, their unhallowed thrones usurped by an audacious horde of young whippersnappers intent on renovating death metal's gruesome, bloodstained corridors, decorating Possessed's hallways with lifeless varnish. Of all the culprits that are to blame for death metal's descent into mediocrity, perhaps none is more culpable than the drum trigger. The concept in itself seems innocuous enough- a device that FINALLY solves the eternal problem of drum mic'ing, that finally presents a straightforward solution to lackluster drum sounds. Yet, somehow, in the hands of death metal upstarts, the trigger has single-handedly transformed a malevolent, voracious monstrosity into a sterile, decrepit degenerate. To worsen an already precarious situation, the double bass pedal has, over time, offered a simple means to crowd tracks with as much irritating triggered clicking as humanly possible. I might be in the minority here, but give me Chris Reifert over Flo Mounier any day of the week.

It is this very inclination towards the ‘'as much double bass as humanly possible'' ethic that proves to be Torment's downfall here. The songwriting is often fucking ACE throughout the record, but over and over again, Nicolas Hernandez inserts 3 double bass strokes when 1 could do just fine, 5 snare hits when 2 would suffice. It also doesn't help that drums are triggered to kingdom come- think Decapitated's last record with the “BOOM” kick drum sound of Strapping Young Lad, and you're somewhere in the same ballpark. Toms sound like Casio keyboard samples, snares resemble typewriters.

It's a shame, really, because otherwise there is much to enjoy here if you harbor a yen for mid-period Morbid Angel and Decapitated. Much like Decapitated, Torment peddle a syncopated, very rhythmic, riff-driven approach to death metal, something that is MOST apparent on stuff like “And Then The Madness Comes…”, which uses tense, staccato riffing as the nexus of the track. More similarities surface in the intensely disciplined, frighteningly tight feel of the material- all the riffing is very precisely executed, and the songwriting is consummately harnessed. Ultimately, however, Torment are a more angular outfit than Decapitated, and the less predictable moments on this record truly set it apart from droves of less inventive bands- the throbbing, brooding, dissonant passage that opens “Jobs Part II” is fucking brilliant, a torrent of sludgy, acridity that spills all over the track and manages to distract from the omnipresent double bass bubbling beneath. 2 minutes through the track, we are confronted with a VERY bizarre, spectral echo-drenched guitar break that isn't a million miles away from something derived from early Cynic. The astral passage alternates with insistent, malicious riffing, creating a very nice juxtaposition between the contemplative and the violent. 3 minutes through “The Voices”, we get a very strange, serpentine passage that would be more at home on 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' than a brutal death metal record.

Ultimately, however, the drumming truly hampers the wealth of brilliance that is on offer throughout. The painfully precise playing will certainly gain favor amongst those who worship at the feet of Kevin Talley and Derek Roddy, but to these ears the drumming throughout is drab, soulless, absolutely devoid of thought or spirit. There's a lot of ‘'gravity blasting'' here, a truckload of Maurain/Longstreth/Kolesne snare smacking and syncopated double bass rolls that are clever, but annoying. It is perhaps not very flattering that the toms sound so digitized that each fill comes off more like a synthesizer solo than anything performed on an organic, acoustic set. I also don't really appreciate the liberal use of the SYL “BOOM” effect, which for the most part just reminds me that drum god Gene Hoglan is now plying his trade for an utterly pointless gimmick project.

At the end of the day, this is another case of ‘'good ideas, HORRID production''. What is perhaps more disturbing is the fact that the sterile, cybernetic sound of the record was elaborately orchestrated and deliberated, further proof that death metal's once infallible vitality is in SERIOUS jeopardy of being extinguished entirely. There's a LOT of promise here, obscured by over-anxious playing and an abominable drum sound. That being said, it is better than the last Decapitated record by far.

August 4th, 2005