REVIEW EXCLUSIVE: God of Nothing – Tormentor [EP/2014]
Artist: God of Nothing
Album: Tormentor – EP
Chained, bound and gagged, you are a victim—a victim of the most sinister, oppressive evil imaginable. Your skin: flayed. Your bones: cracked and worn. Your sanity: left in puddles on the floor. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t quick, but you have been completely broken, a target of the most refined, skilled and sinister Tormentor there is—the Tormentor that is Virginian deathcore outfit God of Nothing’s debut EP. Each precise, punishing riff carves skin and muscle from the listener. Every immense, relentless breakdown splinters bone and withers marrow. Each and every groove will have the listener’s mind melted, gushing out of their ears. Tormentor is a jaw-dropping, spine-shattering and awe-inspiring debut EP that will, without a doubt, satisfy the wants and needs of fans of both tediously technical and brutalizingly heavy deathcore to the fullest.
The first, and likely most obvious way in which God of Nothing begin to inflict their insidious torture upon the listener is with brute force. With deep, thick percussion and nearly unfathomable dissonance, the Tormentor begins, swinging blindly but with brutal strength, cracking bones and flattening flesh. While the percussion wallops away, stomping and galloping the listener into the ground with nothing but pure heaviness, the guitar and bass follow suit, coating each track’s percussive elements with a thick layer of grime and filth that poisons the listener, stinging each inflicted wound as if it were salt. “Pitiful Waste” displays this dynamic aggression brilliantly, opening with a haunting, yet crushing combination of riffs that melts into an acrid, toxic groove. “Pitiful Waste,” however, is far from alone in this respect—every track presented by God of Nothing utilizes this tactic with lethal efficacy, creating grooves that, at the blink of an eye, drop their tempo and devolve into slamming, intense breakdowns that crack and shatter the listener’s bones without discrimination or mercy, inflicting raw, ruthless and pure torment.
Just because God of Nothing’s most obvious assault on the listener manifests itself in chug-laden, crushing heaviness doesn’t mean it is the only tactic of torture employed bythe Tormentor. In fact, the truth is far from it—as not just are God of Nothing’s weapons enormous, they are sharper than a Hattori Honzo blade. The adequately named “Bringer of Pain” is the first of many instances in which Tormentor cuts with practiced precision and abyssal depth into the listener’s carapace. With percussion that continues its low and booming battery at the listener’s bones, the guitars become bipolar—with one fretboard roaring alongside the beefy percussion, and another furiously riffing away, tapping a high-fretted and insanely technical overlayed riff that peels the listener’s skin back and crawls inside. “Worthless Means” is another such track—even incorporating a catchy bass groove towards the song’s conclusion, and a preceding moment of less-than-demonic dissonance that serves as a melodic respite for the listener. By adding hints of harmony and more than a splash of technicality to their arsenal of riffs, chugs and grooves, God of Nothing have crafted a multifaceted and full-bodied listening experience.
Whether its from the punctures made by splintered bone, or the cuts made by intense technicality, before long, the Tormentor will practically have the listener bathing in their own blood. Each cut—from the immense slams of “Pitiful Waste” and “Scum Crust” to the technical aspects of “Bringer of Pain” and “Worthless Means”—will dig into the listener deeper than the last. Finally, each scream, growl, shout and bellow will sting and ache like salt and lemon juice into the musically-inflicted wounds. The vocal diversity—especially that of “Pitiful Waste”—throughout the EP is the final nail in the listener’s coffin, as it fills in the only area in which God of Nothing could have otherwise left the listener wanting. Even with a brief run time, the boundless plenty of tones and styles of screams and shouts throughout Tormentor is beautiful—and marvelous mirrors the listener’s own shouts and screeches of pain and horror.
Tight instrumentation, a careful blending of crushing heaviness and crafty technicality and comprehensive, well-done vocals—what more could a deathcore fanatic want? Tormentor is packed to the brim with chugnificent breakdowns, grotesque grooves and blistering blast beats at any speed and style the listener could fathom. While this young deathcore duo still have yet to turn water into wine, they definitely prove that they stand to define themselves as Gods of heavy music, as opposed to nothing.
9.5/10
For Fans Of: Dealey Plaza, Molotov Solution, Martyr Defiled, Traitors, Whitechapel, Oceano
By: Connor Welsh
