TORTURE RACK
TORTURE RACK “Primeval Onslaught”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Portland’s TORTURE RACK are becoming one of my favorite American death metal bands. They’re as far from technical and polished as you can get without devolving into total slop. The aptly titled “Primeval Onslaught” has got one of the most primitive and unrefined production jobs on the planet. I won’t bore you by bringing up the names of current “trendy” death metallers, but TORTURE RACK have the late 80’s death metal demo days sound down pat.
This reminds me a lot of Chicago’s unheralded CARDIAC ARREST in terms of grossness and efficiency. Short, punchy tracks that are U-G-L-Y to the bone...just listen to the oozing bass of “Fucked To Death” and “Morningstar Massacre”...both clocking in at less than two minutes...for proof of this. “Forced From the Pit” clocks in at a “massive”..ahem...four and a half minutes of pure rotting aggression complete with sewer chewing vocals and squealing pig guitar leads.
The band has members of SKELETAL REMAINS, WITCH VOMIT and more, but retains a different sound from those bands. There’s a good bit of d-beat punk in the way TORTURE RACK operates, which you don’t really hear in SKELETAL REMAINS. That’s all to the good. Enough of my yakkin’...let’s boogie, as Marty Di Bergi would say. Or in this case, let’s vomit…