Torture Killer - Swarm

Name: Torture Killer.  Album Cover: Gory skeleton and skulls.  Track Titles: Cannibal Gluttony, Heading Towards the Butchery, A Violent Scene of Death.  Mixed by: Erik Rutan.  Umm...yeah, you guessed it.  This is 100% death metal from the first note.  Can't say I was too familiar with this band before receiving this disc in the mail, but it's been a pretty cool listen.  

Torture Killer finds themselves releasing this, their 2nd album, on Metal Blade records and sports their new, full-time vocalist, Chris Barnes (Six Feet Under).  What ensues is a brutal, old school death metal album full of mind-numbing riffs, pounding drums (void of blasting however), and guttural, sludgy vocals.  The production is a little old school too with a powerful low end, but a sound that doesn't sound slick like a lot of current death metal albums released on major metal labels.  It's good for the genre though.  While this album can be tagged as simplistic at times, the musicianship is solid and the vocals are sick.  Hard core death heads will have plenty to enjoy.

Oh, and then there is the positive and uplifting lyrics.  They make me feel like running through the meadow to pick daises!  Seriously though, some of this stuff almost wants to make me laugh cause it's so retarded.  But the sad thing is, so many wack-jobs out there take this stuff serious.  But really, it's nothing more than a band writing a butt-load of the most gore-filled, extreme crap they can think of that's full of grisly murders, cannibalism, necrophilia, torture, and tons of foul language.  They even like to contradict themselves by saying there is no God, but then saying stuff like "Sometimes I think it's Satan telling me to kill."  Umm...you don't believe in a higher being, but you believe in the lower being that was created by God?  So the lyrics are not only repulsive, but intelligent as well. (rolls eyes)

Overall...I like the music on this disc.  Really solid death metal is welcome in my CD player any day.  However, lyrics like this really bore me...not to mention turning my stomach.

Rating: 84/100

Review: Matt Morrow

Label: Metal Blade

Total Songs: 10

Total Time: 34:36

Tracklisting: 1. Swarm, 2. Forever Dead, 3. A Funeral for the Masses, 4. Multiple Counts of Murder, 5. Obsessed with Homicide, 6. Sadistic, 7. Cannibal Gluttony, 8. I Killed You, 9. Heading Towards the Butchery, 10. A Violent Scene of Death.

Best Songs: Tracks 6, 9, & 10.

Band Lineup: Chris Barnes - Vocals, Tuomas Karppinen - Guitars, Jari Laine - Guitars, Kim Torniainen - Bass, Tuomo Latvala - Drums.

Band Website: http://www.torturekiller.com