A Tortured Soul
Lucifer´s Fate

August 2010
Released: 2010, Pure Steel Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

I love US heavy metal, but doesn´t everyone? The US heavy metal scene has always been quite damn phenomenal for decades, new talent popping up from that fertile continent like mushrooms after the rain, ready to picked up and enjoyed.



Milwaukee´s own metal warriors, A Tortured Soul, has existed since 2002 - and they have recorded 3 full-length albums during their 8-year existence of which this latest opus, carrying the title LUCIFER´S FATE, came out on German Pure Steel Records a good while ago.



LUCIFER´S FATE, featuring 9 songs all in all, could best be described an album full of dark, evil and crushing heavy metal added with some occasional thrash influences; the kind of heavy metal I have personally always like the most. There´s a huge Priest/King Diamond/early Metal Church influence tagged all over the album; vocalist Mike Black´s King Diamond/Halford-like multi-octave vocal range is impressive (and sometimes kinda dramatic even), guitarists Stefan Bohl and Nate Gorenc create together a firm backbone for the whole band´s darkened heavy metal assaults with their sweetly nailing riffs and solos – and what´s the best, A Tortured Soul really doesn´t leave much to be hoped for: They surely know already that they smoke on LUCIFER´S FATE, but so do all those other people who have got a chance to hear this very much kick-ass and engaging album.



I don´t feel like going into details of each song on LUCIFER´S FATE that is not necessary at all (besides I am way too lazy for doing so anyway, so...). When I am just saying A Tortured Soul is absolutely one of the most talented discoveries for me that has come out from the US heavy metal soil over the recent years, you should believe my word as firmly as rock.



I actually could keep on praising them endlessly, but I guess that would be pretty boring for all of us in the end, right? However, instead of that I lastly want to say that A Tortured Soul is a prime example of how heavy metal should sound. There should always be a dark and evil vibe to heavy metal music - and A Tortured Soul has truckloads of it on LUCIFER´S FATE. Killer band – killer album.