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Of Curses And Grief
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Of Curses And Grief |
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| Torchia are a melodic death metal band from Finland formed in 2010, releasing two demos, in 2013 and 2015. The bands debut album 'Of Curses And Grief' was released in 2017. | ||||||
| Death metal has never been, and probably will never be, my kinda thing, but from the moment I heard Torchia's song 'Fury' for the first time, my excitement levels rose sky high. 'Fury' is a furious and fierce thrash metal assault, both aggressive and in your face. Torchia describe themselves as a melodic death metal band, and yes the vocal delivery on 'Fury' is the classic death metal growl, but I found 'Fury' to more thrash metal than anything else. So after getting a copy of the album and spinning it a few times, am I now a death metal fan? err, nope, but am I now a Torchia fan? err, yep. The one minute instrumental 'N.NC SCO TEN.BR LVX', complete with spoken word passages, sets up a tension filled atmosphere in readiness for the fierce 'Face Of Hate' to explode into life. The death metal vocals growl menacingly as 'Fate Of Hate' rampages like a herd of stampeding rhino. Bludgeoning riffs and aggressive vocals sees 'Shame' batter and bruise the listener with its ferocity. The bands singer Edward Torchia has a gut wrenching vocal range that would make the majority of us have sore throats for a very long time. His vocal style though, is perfectly suited to this type of abrasive and brash brand of heavy metal. | ||||||
| Rocketing along at high velocity, 'Headshot' is a furious flurry of aggressiveness, and will have lesser mortals cowering for cover as Torchia assault the airways in such a brutal way, that a trip to the local A&E may be needed. Two songs from the bands three song 2015 demo 'Ending Beginning' feature on this release. The first is the more mid tempo yet very heavy foot stomping 'My Land Shall Burn', which is gonna cause earthquakes as it stomps on its way. The guttural howl and growl of singer Edward is terrifying and will scare most people shitless as he menacingly delivers a superb performance. The second is the energetic and up tempo barrage of 'Ending Beginning'. Pulsating with aggression, 'Ending Beginning' is a terrifying yet melodic, yep, there I said it, melodic romp. Mixing elements of death and thrash, Torchia have found a sound that is beginning to pull this (heavy metal, hard rock, power metal and thrash metal) fan into the genre of death metal... | ||||||
| ...not fully there yet though, it's gonna take many more bands, albums and plenty more time to be converted, but 'Of Curses And Grief' is a cracking start to my conversion. Making the Japanese bullet train appear slow, 'Light My Path' is top speed metal, played at a blistering pace with screeching guitars. Also, 'Light My Path' has more of the melodic side of the band intertwined with their death metal roots. Sounding like it wouldn't be amiss on a heavy rock album, 'Wish For More' is hard rocking as it opens, building towards the thrashy death metal sound that Torchia are making all their own. Deep death metal growls are throat blistering, confirming that Torchia are indeed a death metal band. The album is brought to a close by the most aggressive and fierce song on offer. 'Dark And Cold' is a furious blur as it flies by, yet also has the most recognisable hard rock sounding passages of any song on the album. As a debut release, 'Of Curses And Grief' makes an immediate impact, forcing people to sit up and take notice of a new force in the world of death metal. | ||||||
| Overall, fast, fierce and furious, Torchia deliver an explosive and aggressive blend of death metal infused with thrash and touches of the melodic. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Metal Gods TV | ||||||
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