Torture Killer
For Maggots to Devour

April 2004
Released: 2004, Candlelight
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: JP

I’m a big fan of gore metal. Another new band in an already crowded genre, Torture Killer join the growing ranks of death bands that worship at the (lyrical) alter of Carcass and Cannibal Corpse. Along with Gorerotted, Vehemence, and a handful of others TK have put together a killer package. Some people see the sub-sub genre of ‘gore metal’ as redundant and one-dimensional, which while true to a large degree, doesn’t bother me. As a fan I feel there are enough subtle differences among bands in this arena of splatter to make the distinguishable.



The very cool package caught my eye, the liner notes, design and graphics are based around a coroners report. The cover is pretty grim featuring cannibalism although the logo is a bit dull and the title lacks punch. The lyrics themselves are standard, sick and repulsive, maybe not as flat out sickening as Broken Hope nor as technical as Carcass but remind me of the elegant simplicity of the prose of Mortician. (I can’t believe I typed that with a straight face) If you are going to write, record, play death metal why not emphasis the lyrical aspect of death? It seems counter intuitive to have skull-crushing music and sing about the environment or some such nonsense. Any band that rhymes ‘scattered’ with ‘splattered’ gets bonus points in my book.



Musically speaking the band isn’t very technical and not supper fast at all times. They have a nice mid-paced death groove that reminds me of Obituary. The vocals are guttural but not completely unintelligible and occasionally punctuated by a higher scream. I really like the drum sound, the drummer uses the bell of his ride and his crashes to nice effect in the opening track. The guitar tone is thick and meaty and overall the songs are constructed in a fairly standard fashion. The songs sans vocals might even fall into the realm of newer Dismember or Carnage with a minimalist, grinding feel.



While not original by any means the band hits all the required high spots with ease and flair and they do it well. Finland’s TK sweetly satisfy that murderous urge for musical death.