There’s a scene in Roman Polanski’s version of Macbeth where in the midst of battle you see one of the soldiers cave their enemy’s head in with a morning star. The shot is visceral in it’s display of overt gore, and so too is Torture Rack’s latest offering Primeval Onslaught. Bludgeoned bones, crushed helmets and rent amour are strewn across 25 minutes of pounding old school Death Metal. It’s bloody, it’s glorious, it’s harrowing, and more than anything it makes you bang your head so much even Corpsegrinder would feel it the next day.
This is Torture Rack’s third album, following on from the success of Malefic Humiliation. The band, consisting of members of Witch Vomit, Triumvir Foul and Cemetary Lust, brings their specific brand of unhinged gore soaked debauchery. This is death metal where the purpose is simple, to smash skulls, take no prisoners and bathe in the glory of your foes defeated corpse. If you like your death metal particularly bloody, and filled with Cannibal Corpse and Bolt Thrower riffs then this will be right up your street.
‘Ceremonial Flesh Feast’ opens the proceedings by unleashing hell on your ears, a half time Cannibal Corpse esque riff complete with cymbal bell strikes which speedily descends into chaos courtesy of a divebombing solo capturing the chaos of cult rituals bathed in blood. A platter sized helping of old school death metal follows, swapping between grinding speed and classic stompy half tempo goodness.
“It’s glorious, it’s harrowing, and more than anything it makes you bang your head so much even Corpsegrinder would feel it the next day.”
At 04:24 ‘Forced from the Pit’ is a veritable prog song in a sea of crusty disemboweled limbs. Rabid double kick, and palm muted chords fly across the scene of a massacre. It takes you on a journey (long for the record, but short in the grand scheme of things) across the battlefield, carnage everywhere punctuated by growled vocals and shrill Dimebag pinched wails. There’s a short section to catch a breath before plunging into up-down beats and a shreddy solo building up to a skull smashing, head banging crescendo.
The appropriate named ‘Fucked by Death’ opens with blisteringly fast drums and some delightfully choppy punk-esque basslines before dropping into a grindy riff that messes you up in the best possible way. The track is 01:15 long, it’s speedy, grindy chainsaw goodness wrapped up in a tight package with blast beats, shreddy whammy bar ridden solos and growled demonic vocals sure to summon Satan to the already blood drenched battlefield.
What follows is the driving sound of Bolt Thrower worship in the form of ‘Impalement Storm.’ Once again Torture Rack, nail the name of the song as the opening riff sounds like a salvo of arrows coming down and turning your frontlines into shish kebab. The difference between this track and the unhinged madness of the previous one shows how diverse the bands songwriting has become. The myriad of chunky guitar lines are all backed up by the brilliant drumming of Seth Traver, who shines on the album as a whole.
Although there isn’t anything too new here, it’s an excellent record full of foot tapping riffs and insanity inducing playing from all the members of the band. Anyone who enjoys Cannibal Corpse, in particular should find themselves right at home with the album. The short 25 minute run time can’t be left unspoken of. This makes for a relatively breezy listen despite the nature of the music enshrined within, chuck it on in the car, or in the gym, hell stick it on whilst you take apart a shed in your garden or dig up that stubborn pathway. This is the kind of record that is a utility knife for any situation where you need to inject energy, fun and of course bloodlust. Also a quick shout out to ‘Rok’ who produced the artwork for the album, it really captures the visceral blood thirsty nature of the record.