TORMENTOR - Morbid Realization

Tormentor - Morbid Realization

10 songs
42:08 minutes
***** ***
Iron Shield

Bandpage

The guys weren’t even teenagers yet when they decided to found a thrash metal band titled Tormentor. Not really an original name, considering that there are about twenty identically named metal bands around worldwide, but you ignore that with kids that grew up with metal from their earliest age on. Actually even Kreator used to be called Tormentor in the very early days of their career, and their lead singer Mille Petrozza is a fan of these Tormentor.

In 2012 they released their debut Violent World which still sounded a lot like Kreator. They decided to take more time for the follow-up and to tackle the next album with a more perfectionist attitude, which you can hear on Morbid Realization quite well. Of course Tormentor still play the typical Teutonic thrash metal, and anything else would have been considered treason. The main ingredient are the two guitars that are unleashing riff after killer riff, and there are also a lot of guitar solos. The rhythm section is thundering as if there were no tomorrow. The music is crowned by the brutal barked vocals.

The short Comprehension Failed is an ultra-fast piece of metal that reminds of German thrash pioneers Assassin. Most tracks are longer though, and it’s there where the band takes time to add tempo changes. Especially the concluding Path To The Dark Side is astonishingly varied and mature, making this a worthy finale of this thrash metal album. But also the seven-minute long title track and the thrash hymn Lurks In The Dark are great tracks that should be listened to closely. Another highlight is Walk Past Myself which is quite the earworm.

Tormentor are definitely taking advantage of the current thrash revival, which makes Morbid Realization something of a trendy album. Those of us that grew up with the genre thirty years ago will know that Tormentor won’t win a prize for originality, but will still have a lot of fun with the record. It’s obvious that the four musicians that played together since 2011 without any line-up changes are having a really good time, and that’s one of the major strengths of Morbid Realization.

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