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/:: Artist :: Torture Squad ::\
:: Album :: Devilish ::
:: Year :: 2023 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Thrash Metal Source :: CDDA . ::
:: Label :: Time to Kill Records R.date :: 2023.11.17 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: TTK105CD S.date :: 2023.09.17 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 273kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 98.77 MB .
. .
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 01. Hell is Coming 06:52 ::
:: 02. Flukeman 05:06 ::
:: 03. Buried Alive 03:38 ::
:: 04. Warrior 04:22 ::
:: 05. Sanctuary 04:02 ::
:: 06. Uatum 05:24 ::
:: 07. Thoth 04:56 ::
:: 08. Mabus 03:23 ::
:: 09. Find My Way 04:31 ::
:: 10. Magnum Chaos (Chapter I) Gaia 01:58 ::
:: 11. Magnum Chaos (Chapter II) A Farewell to Mankind 04:07 ::
:: 12. Magnum Chaos (Chapter III) The Last Journey 01:54 ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 50:13 ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
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+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: Brazil's Torture Squad may, or may not be a familiar name to ::
:: some, but personally I became acquainted with them some ::
:: years ago when I stumbled across their album Hellbound in ::
:: 2008, at the time the band had just won the prestigious ::
:: Wacken Metal Battle the year previously, which ::
:: consequentially won them a record deal with German label ::
:: Armageddon Records, and Hellbound was the more than ::
:: impressive result. Delving into the band's history, it ::
:: turned out this was the bands 5th album, having self- ::
:: released their primitive debut Shivering in 1998, with the ::
:: then line-up of Cristiano Fusco on guitar (who founded the ::
:: band as early as 1990), Amilcar Christofaro on drums, Wagner ::
:: "Castor" on bass (this duo who both joined in 1993, has been ::
:: the foundation stone ever since), and Victor Rodrigues on ::
:: vocals. Fusco left after the impressive The Unholy Spell , ::
:: and replacement Mauricio Nogueira joined for the remarkable, ::
:: and critically acclaimed (well in the underground) ::
:: 'Pandemonium' in 2004. Nogueira left after the recording of ::
:: 'Hellbound', and Augusto Lopes joined as the guitarist for ::
:: the following tour and 6th album quilibrium , which, I ::
:: have to be honest, was a bit lacking after its two ::
:: spectacular predecessors. ::
:: ::
:: Then, for a few years, line-up instability rocked the band, ::
:: guitarist Lopes left, to be replaced by Andr Evaristo, who ::
:: then also took up the vocals when Rodrigues left in 2012, ::
:: and the band continued as a trio, although female bassist ::
:: Fernanda Lira contributed guest vocals for the surprisingly ::
:: excellent, and rifftastic Esquadr o de Tortura ::
:: (effectively a self-titled album in their native Portuguese) ::
:: in 2013, and lyrically was a scathingly truthful look at ::
:: Brazilian politics from 1964 to 1985, when the country was ::
:: under military rule, as hinted at by the newspaper headline ::
:: on the cover art. 2017 and album number eight saw further ::
:: changes in personal, with Evaristo leaving and the ::
:: introduction of two new members, six stringer Rene Simionato ::
:: and Mayara "Undead" Puertas on vocals, the band took their ::
:: old sound and built on it, but also embraced and ::
:: incorporated new elements to broaden the scope, and released ::
:: a very strong release in Far Beyond Existence . ::
:: ::
:: Now 6 years later, the band return with a new album, the ::
:: first with the same line-up since 2008. Devilish is a very ::
:: worthy follow-up to Far Beyond Existence , building on the ::
:: same ground work, yet pushing the envelope even further, ::
:: beyond hitherto unknown boundaries. Take opening track Hell ::
:: is Coming , which incidentally, lyrically is inspired by the ::
:: Diablo series of computer/console games, starts with odd ::
:: progressive guitar strumming and an eastern theme, with ::
:: polyrhythmic percussion, before getting into the song ::
:: proper, which itself is a heavy, yet melodic brute for the ::
:: majority, but later in the song Mayara lets loose with some ::
:: impressive clean vocals, which lift the song to another ::
:: level. Now let me tell straight away, this album has one of ::
:: the best guitar sounds I have heard for quite some time, ::
:: viscous, dense, and gnarly. Flukeman utilizes the ::
:: productions heaviness, and uses it in spades, swapping ::
:: between fast chunky riffs and huge fat chords, this album ::
:: should definitely come with a health warning, because if you ::
:: get hit by one of these riffs, you re going to need ::
:: treatment for concussion at the very least! ::
:: ::
:: Buried Alive is all twisting serpentine riffs and ::
:: aggression and features a guest slot from none other than ::
:: Andreas Kisser (Sepultura). Talking about throwing different ::
:: influences into the mix Warrior is something entirely new. ::
:: I had to check to see if it was a cover song, but as far as ::
:: I can tell it s an original, and definitely adds a new ::
:: dynamic. A tribute to Rickson Gracie the Jiu Jitsu legend, ::
:: and one of the greatest in this sport, it comes across as ::
:: more hard rock in places starting off with a chord ::
:: progression AC/DC would be proud of, Mayara proves she s got ::
:: plenty of variation, with a phenomenal vocal performance, at ::
:: first, I thought it was a bit cheesy, but on repeated ::
:: listens it s become one of my favourites from the whole ::
:: album. Sanctuary is a lumbering brute of a song, seriously ::
:: heavy, but again the band throw some experimentation into ::
:: the mix with some eerie children's choir effects, which adds ::
:: an unnerving atmosphere into the proceedings. Simionato is a ::
:: real find on the 6 strings, and like many of his ::
:: predecessors, he has a knack for writing riffs that are both ::
:: heavy, but have an original twist, take 'Mabus' for ::
:: instance, what could have been a more generic song, is given ::
:: an extra boost by the invention of the riff work, and not ::
:: only is his riff work impressive, his leads and solos are ::
:: even better. ::
:: ::
:: Elsewhere, the band pull another curveball with the ::
:: remarkable 'Find my Way', an acoustic and orchestral piece, ::
:: and for the three minutes Mayara uses her cleans and takes ::
:: the song to another level, full of emotion and passion, it s ::
:: a very brave song and one that works extremely well, and ::
:: closes out with the instrumental 'Gaia', this is something ::
:: that the band just wouldn't have been able to conceive, let ::
:: alone execute 10 years ago. Absolutely fantastic. ::
:: ::
:: The album closes out on with the epic 'A Farewell to ::
:: Mankind/The Last Journey' combo, that mixes brutality and ::
:: beauty in equal measure. Building from a powerful melodic ::
:: intro, it explodes into blistering heaviness before morphing ::
:: into a crushing middle section with massive chords and ::
:: grandiose leads and solos, before a colossal crescendo that ::
:: segues into the magnificent outro, a truly beautiful piano ::
:: piece that honestly brought tears to my eyes. ::
:: ::
:: Easily their strongest album since 'Hellbound', and quite ::
:: possibly their best ever, this is a stunningly impressive ::
:: piece of work, and for existing fans this is a real treat, ::
:: and if you've not heard of these Brazilian thrash/death ::
:: metal veterans before, or if you have any interest in ::
:: extreme metal, I urge you to seek this album out, as it's an ::
:: album of the year contender for sure. Magnificent. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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__\____ :: ____ ___\ _ / BERC : 2023 \ _ /___ ____ :: ____/__
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