SINGLE: Tormentor Absolute – The Serpent Awoken (2013)

Artist: Tormentor Absolute

Single: The Serpent Awoken

Trying to fabricate and predict what the sound of pure evil would be is a daunting and trying task to say the least. First, one must define what they think the most pure form of visceral, misanthropic hatred actually is. Only once doing that can they really start to piece together what it might sound like when reduced down to it’s simplest form. It’s not an easy task, which, fortunately for the listener, is what Tormentor Absolute’s debut single, “The Serpent Awoken” is for. Formerly operating under the name of Subtract, much of the same bitterness that brought about releases like Black Soul is prevalent here, only in a newer, more precise and devastating package.

“The Serpent Awoken” doesn’t beat around the bush—rather, it rips it right out of the ground, revealing the cowering listener. If the first thirty seconds of the sheer pounding drums and deep, grinding guitar tone aren’t enough to make the listener hide in a corner, then the track’s non-stop display of unwieldy power and sinister, dissonant anger will keep them paralyzed in fear. Knees locked, feet cemented to the ground by nothing but the purest form of awe and fear, the listener has no choice but to be subjected to blow after blow and slash after slash as lacerating vocals and crushing heaviness slice their skin and pour into their wounds, expanding like concrete. “The Serpent Awoken” is a track which does nothing but make the listener—and by extension, the hardcore and deathcore communities thirsty for more music from these Washingtonian annihilators.

5/5

For Fans Of: Immoralist, Subtract, Barrier, Manipulator

By: Connor Welsh