Torturerama - Left as Remains

TORTURERAMA - Left as Remains (Self financed demo CD 2011)

It’s weird that Belgium never managed to form a quality death metal scene… All countries surrounding them, especially The Netherlands, have so many killer acts, both old and new, so many killer albums and demos… And Belgium? I simply cannot think if any truly superb, classic death metal band from this country, except Blasphereion / Morbid Death. OK, I may also mention Aborted, for they have a couple of better releases in the discography. But let’s be honest… this is very, very few names to mention. So, finally I am happy to discover a new band, which delivers some killer death tunes. And they’re called Torturerama! Ha, don’t mistake it with Terrorama hehe! The band was formed in 2008 and “Left as Remains” is their debut demo! And man, I must say that I really enjoyed this recording.

“Left as Remains” has everything what old styled death maniacs should love. Their music is deeply rooted in the Swedish style, more so, Mr. Skogsberg (anyone heard of him hehe?) is responsible for the mastering – so, the sound obviously is classically harsh and dark, with that buzzy chainsaw guitar sound we all love. And more so, Erik from one famous Swedish black metal band (guess which one!) is responsible for the artwork. Nice!

Now, speaking of the music… the sound reminds me especially one LP, and it is Dismember’s “Indecent and Obscene” / “Pieces”. And these are also the more rightful directions, which you should look at, if you want to know how is the Torturerama music on “Left as Remains” sounding like. Add obviously some necessary ingredients from old Entombed and here we go… Take “Last Piece” and you will know exactly what I mean. Crispy sound, crushing, sharp riffs, some slow, some mid paced and some guitar harmonies, which can be influenced only by one death metal scene in the world. Basically each song is based on them, like “Merciless Exsanguination”, which is so Dismember… Ha ha, but it’s good stuff. Sure, Torturerama doesn’t offer anything new, anything extraordinary, but rather common, old school Swedish death metal, but they do that in proper, good way, with some killer songs, killer riffs, great morbid atmosphere… simple, passionate playing. I don’t expect to hear anything more than that. Very good band indeed.

Standout tracks: “Merciless Exsanguination”, “Last Piece”, “Left as Remains”

Final rate: 70/100