Severe Torture return to violence.
Following their return in 2022 after an absence of over ten years, Thijs van Laarhoven (guitar), Patrick Boleij (bass), Dennis Schreurs (vocals), Marvin Vriesde (guitar, ex-Dew-Scented) and Damiën Kerpentier (drums, Sepiroth) unveil Torn From The Jaws Of Death, their sixth album, on Season of Mist.
The assault begins with a bang with The Death Of Everything, an opening track that leaves no room for gentleness and fully embraces both its violence and its Old School influences. The raw vocal parts blend perfectly with the stirring rhythm, whether during the lively parts or the break before the hypnotic solo, then it’s on to Marked By Blood And Darkness that the band continues to hammer away while retaining their technical touch. Some passages are also very straightforward and simpler, but just as effective, ensuring a balance of rage while Marked By Blood And Darkness, the next composition, reveals a heavier suffocating but also very jerky approach. The leads provide the cutting edge also found on the eponymous track, Torn From The Jaws Of Death, which doesn’t fail to place its devastating riffs at every turn to accompany them, but also a more impressive and almost majestic ambience on the final. Christ Immersion clearly picks up the tempo, letting blast and frantic riffs combine to create this infernal soundtrack over which the vocalist roars, then Putrid Remains continues in this lively, incisive approach to which the musicians add a few dissonant harmonics. The incessant firepower returns on The Pinnacle of Suffering, where the band’s bloody guitars are used to the benefit of their fury, with a few more majestic patterns to back up the violence, but you get the feeling that the track is just waiting for the moment when it can explode, and this is reached with Through Pain and Emptiness, where nothing seems to be able to stop the band, who strike at full speed, and even allow themselves a melodious solo. Those Who Wished Me Dead is followed by a short, proper molestation, with a screaming lead part, then the final blow with Tear All The Flesh Off The Earth, where a few more airy pauses punctuate the long surge, ending the album with heady harmonics.
Severe Torture have never known anything but violence, and this album proves that their break does not weaken their strength! Torn From The Jaws Of Death is already shaping up to be a monument to the year 2024 in Death Metal, whether Brutal, Technical or Old School!
95/100