Tortyr
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D-takt & Råpunk
There's not really that much to say about Sweden's Tortyr other than if you like your crust bassy and dirty as hell then you'll love them. Musically, they're a mix of punk and crust with a tiny hint of death metal that goes a long way to surpassing the likes of genre luminaries Skitsystem in the heaviness stakes. As with a lot of this type of music, however, it tends to get a bit samey after a few tracks. Thankfully, Tortyr do offer a little in the way of variation, although not nearly enough. "De blindas lakej" kicks off like an oldschool Swedish death metal effort, and doesn't sound a million miles away from something you'd expect from an early-90s Entombed. For me, at least, it's the track of the album and showcases an aspect of this band that they should really explore. Vocally, there's some work to be done here. It's just too shouty-screamy and, although that's the style generally used for this type of music, it's clear that these guys would benefit greatly from the odd death-growl passage here and there. It's more of this type of variation -- both musically and vocally -- that could elevate Tortyr to greater recognition and see them output a truly monstrous album. Here's hoping for next time...
- John Norby
