At the near end of the unmatchable 80s era, when bands were resorting to desperate measures trying to make good use of every possible dime they had and eventually releasing some of the shittiest albums ever heard, a few bands still managed to stand out of the crowd and Torture were arguably one among them. Hailing from Texas these thrashers never gave in to the friendlier groove style their fellow state friends Pantera adopted and who subsequently made a living out of. No groovy shit found in here, this is total thrash mayhem. It’s a pity this was released a little too late as it made not much of an impact as it could possibly have, had they done a little time travel a few years prior. Nevertheless the band’s reformed and the remastered version of this masterpiece called “Storm Alert” is already out in the stores and calls for immediate attention.
What makes this record special is the presence of a couple of factors. One would be the straightforward approach taken by the band and not opting for silly gimmicks and lousy themes that had become a staple of several bands of that era. The second factor is the band’s sensible usage of humor on a couple of tracks without going for exaggerated attempts and thus keeping the continuity and flow going. One comparison that comes to mind is perhaps Seattle based thrashers Coven, who were active around the same time and who’s debut followed a similar trend but with more leanings towards nasty humor. The music is fast but not overly sped up as Wehrmacht or Incubus. The speed is somewhat along the lines of Dark Angel and Sodom. The vocals on the other hand are vicious and harsh with only a few clean notes thrown in for the intros.
The track listing on the original LP is shorter and a little different from the 2005 re-release and I’ll be covering the ones on the former release. Most of these are lengthy pieces purely because of the usage of keyboards based intros that blend perfectly with the main onslaught. “Ignominious Slaughter” for instance starts off with an intro which sounds like its come right out of the soundtrack of the film “Omen” and then kicks off with a heavy riff which eventually gets faster and then pushes right into the maximum, phew!!!! The chorus sounds sick and demented. The follow up “Blood Portraits” has a surprising acoustic intro which then culminates into a massacre with heavy as hell riffs right out of Black Sabbath’s instruction manual.
Now come the two back to back maniacal mosh pit destroyers that are beyond description and can only be matched in intensity by Wargasm. The songwriting is excellent and the music is even better. The first one “Slay Ride” has that humor I referred to earlier and is not an all out thrasher as the other tracks and is more riff and solo driven with over the top vocals by Mr Tortured Hicks. “Terror Kingdom” is one of the tracks from the previously released EP of the same name. This one’s not a whole lot different except for the vocals which spurt more anger and venom. This is perhaps the fastest one around with a crazy thrash break in between to accommodate the chorus that screams heavy metal.
The title track “Storm Alert” starts off with clean vocals for a short period before a good little thrash riff comes that makes for the main riff of the entire song. There is also a hint of traditional bay area like catchiness present in here that can be heard upon careful listening. The next one called “Enter The Chamber” is more traditional than thrash, sounding almost like an early Metal Blade records signee. There is also a good display of bass soloing in the middle section. The penultimate “Whips” is total Destruction worship. Listen to that intro solo and you’ll be reminded of “Eternal Ban “ from Eternal Devastation. This one’s an all out instrumental and was probably meant as a little mark of respect to the Teutonic thrash masters. The final track doesn’t disappoint whatsoever and is the ideal finisher to the album albeit not compromising on the length.
Ever since the birth of thrash metal, a lot of quality albums have been churned out and the process still continues. Torture regardless of the fact that they’ve released only one album till date certainly deserve a more than a honorary mention on the list of some of the better obscure heavy metal bands and this effort speaks for itself. For all you old school thrash and death heads, get taken around for a nasty “Slay Ride” to the “Terror Kingdom” but be careful as there’s a “Storm Alert” news floating around and you might get ignominiously killed. This is what true cult is all about!!!!
"...come fly with me to a world of disaster..."
The great state of Texas. Never been there, but more bands than you can shake a stick at have. Many of them have called it home from the beginning. A rookery for musical talent good or bad, few places in America have sprouted more bands attuned to metal's mighty grinding hook (well, it's a big state, but so's Montana). Maybe it's the water.
Okay, by '87 the moniker and title such as Terror Kingdom is on its way to being as Krafty as cheese, and while nicely rendered, the jacket's skeletal baddie may as well be decorating a D&D module cover (and probably would've been the highlight of all of the rather lame and heartless TSR art). On the flip side, the project's design seems rather on target when stacked next to the mental trajectory of various debuts by, say, Devastation, Death Angel and Mayhem, not to mention that the roleplaying game had by then hacked its way to peak popularity with a +5 vorpal blade and #2 pencil. In other words, the depth of Terror Kingdom would seem a bit shallow, but the brackish pond is deeper than it appears, and what's in the water is unsuspectingly sneaky in what to expect.
The quartet's din is somewhat two-faced, a Gemini in astrological terms, and having been recorded in late May the coincidence can be backed up. Three of these four tracks (the opening "Intro" being a 2+ minute rainstorm tolling not unlike Sabbath's debut except with vague, snoozing keyboard haze thrown in) roll at us heaving Venom's simplistically catchy breath, hot and bothered while a Warfare-like copycatishness wafts in behind it almost necessarily. Two of these three, "Power Metal" and "Terror Kingdom", rattle with a closet, less chaotic N.M.E. clatter along with the aforementioned description, helixing Tom Hicks's distraught low-end vox and fuzzying up J.D. Robbins's riff work. "Into the Darkness", true opener and purest Venom apery of the bunch, is a formidable catalyst for the wordless thrash-intensive "Whips of the Antichrist", a rakish counter to the record's more traditionally-bound vitality. Generated from this burning energy is ancestral speed awakened by short Destruction-esque flurries of technical noodling, launching the tune and band a few bounds beyond the norm.
Today, throwing time into reverse for the retro effect is a talent worth heralding, but back then the artless Venom buzz wasn't nearly past its prime and made this ep seem more a wax of worship than a legitimate effort from a new band. Unfortunately, with only the propulsion of "Whips of the Antichrist" to break the ep's mold, the record still remains largely neglected, especially amongst the Texas crowd.
Old-timers that make me look boyish will report Texas' metal uprising was dwarfed by the '60s and '70s psych garage scene, a scene that has spawned volumes of compilations featuring only bands from the Lone Star state.
I'm convinced that I missed a time most grand.
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