TORTURED DEMON
“Rise Of The Lifeless”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Tortured Demon are a thrash metal band from the UK formed in 2018 by brothers Jacob (vocals/guitar) and Joe Parkinson (drums), Billy Houigan (guitar), and Sean Xavier (bass). The band released their debut self titled E.P. in 2020, followed by debut full length album ‘In Desperation’s Grip’ in 2021, and then made a ground shaking appearance at that years Bloodstock Open Air festival when the Jagermeister Stage started falling down around them! During 2022, the band opened for thrash metal bands Evile and Xentrix, and in 2023 released their sophomore album ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’…

…followed by a second appearance at Bloodstock Open Air, with an autumn tour of the UK still to come! Tortured Demon are definitely a band on the up, having taken an emphatic upward trajectory over the last couple of years – ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ taking the band even higher! The new album is ten songs and forty minutes of ferocious aggression – the one minute intro ‘An Empire Condemned’ is a glorious anticipation fuelled canter that eases you in, whetting your appetite for what’s to follow!

And what follows is a barrage of raw power and pace – pace that threatens to smash the sound barrier and rip a great big fucking hole in the fabric of time and space! The band are brutal, the title song ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ pummelling the senses with jack hammer style riffing, invoking violent head banging from every single metalhead everywhere! The speed of ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ (the song) is incredible, the band ignoring speed limits and the old bill – slowing down for no-one and nothing! A sensational opening gambit, Tortured Demon are in devastating form, marching on with the gruffer, rougher and tougher, ‘Virtual Death’ – a tirade of howls and scowls biting angrily at your ears! A simply brutal opening one-two from a hungry young band hell-bent on taking over the world and becoming a global threat to the current kings of thrash metal, the band storming on with the fastest song heard so far ‘Global Threat’. And what a song! The speed, the aggression, the ferocity – all at phenomenal levels. Methinks the band are re-writing the scales of brutality, much harder, heavier, and harsher than ever before!

Keeping the pedal pressed firmly to the metal, the band roar on with ‘Disfavour’, the first song on offer to feature strains of the iconic sound of the traditional heavy metal gallop. Planting one “foot on the monitor”, Tortured Demon extend their soundscape to a wider audience, coming at you from the border between thrash and heavy metal. Yet the bands root aggression and menace are well and truly still intact – ‘Conflict Of Interest’ heading in the melodic thrash metal direction. For only the first forty seconds though, as a blistering barrage of shredding takes over and the band race off at high velocity – ‘Conflict Of Interest’ a raucous rampage of devastating thrash to melt your face and make your ears bleed! This is simply stunning stuff from one of the most exhilarating bands on the planet right now, remember their name – Tortured Demon – they’re destined for greatness! ‘Erase Your Life’ maintains the incredible intensity and in your face approach of the band, keeping the hammer down with more force than the Norse God Thor! Breath taking is surely an understatement in terms of a descriptive term for ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ (the album) – sensational, staggering or even stupendous are more apt descriptions!

I’m telling ya, this album is mind-blowing, my head hasn’t stopped rocking back and forth since ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ exploded into life – the bands relentless thrash metal onslaught rolling on with the fierce ‘This War Will Come To You’. The lightning quick speed is out of this world, the worldwide mosh pits a sweaty sea of frenzied metalheads jumping up and down and violently banging their heads! Boy there’s gonna be some sore necks in the morning – the band delivering a skull crushing bone snapping brand of thrash! And in among the thrash metal roots of ‘Eyes In The Fire’, is a slight hint of traditional heavy metal, Tortured Demon once again breaking down borders and crossing genre boundaries. Spectacular stuff from the youngsters, ’cause you gotta remember, the Oldhamer four piece are all aged twenty or younger! Yep, that’s right twenty! With the founding brothers still only teenagers!

Now some of you might be asking “what’s an Oldhamer” – well let me tell you, it’s a person who comes from a particular area, like a town, city or a country. For example, people from the UK are known as British, people from London as Londoners, and in the case of Tortured Demon, the band are from Oldham (in Manchester), so therefore, are known as Oldhamers! Now let’s get back to the music – and the albums final hurrah, ‘The Damage Is Done’. And boy has the damage been done! The band have hurtled through all ten songs on offer at incredible speed, devastating the landscape with a blistering barrage of savagery – ‘The Damage Is Done’ maintaining the ferocious streak that has run through ‘Rise Of The Lifeless’ (the album) from start to finish. 

Overall, a brutal onslaught of neck breaking thrash metal, loaded with ferocity, immense intensity and incredible head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

An Empire Condemned
Rise Of The Lifeless
Virtual Death
Global Threat
Disfavour
Conflict Of Interest
Erase Your Life
This War Will Come To You
Eyes In The Fire
The Damage Is Done

https://www.tortureddemon.com/
https://www.facebook.com/t0rtureddem0n

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