LP Review: "Far Beyond Existence" by Torture Squad

Far Beyond Existence

What would happen if Sauron and Set (of Conan The Barbarian) somehow procreated?

Sorry, I was just looking at this album cover and got a little bit distracted....

As you should be able to tell from the Conan The Barbarian reference, your friend and humble narrator isn't on the front nine of existence anymore...unless life expectancy heads up to 98 soon.

So, as a Gen X'er, my musical history is in a unique location. I'm too young to remember the heyday of the golden age of rock, but I'm old enough to to have seen a lot of great bands.

I stand between two ages and it's impossible to ignore the old, old farts and Millennials talking about how music sucks now. Well, what if there was a band that started during the beginning of the death metal revolution that's still heavy?

Torture Squad

This Brazilian quartet has been in existence in one form or another since 1990. Their debut came out in 1993.

There've been member changes and ups and downs.

But did Iron Maiden cease to be when Bruce Dickinson replaced Paul D'Anno or when Janick Gers replaced Adrian Smith?

Hell no!

New members bring new blood and can breathe new life. So what we have in front of us pummeling our earholes is a death metal record that reeks of putrefaction, that is to say classical features, but it's filtered through modern metal hands.

One of the pitfalls of doing this is hearing a song and begging the demons to make it please not suck, and then the vocals kick in, the trigger double bass blast beats kick in, or some other overtired trope arrives to kick me in the stomach and ruin the song.

Torture Squad's latest doesn't ever do that. It starts off chaotic and moves into silky smooth metal grooves.

Modern death metal has officially been put on notice. Far Beyond Existence is the bar for 2018. It's unlikely to be surpassed.

Release: 3/30/18
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Brutal Records
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