Those Who Bring The Torture
Tank Gasmask Ammo
6.3
Those Who Bring the Torture is a Swedish super group of sorts featuring members of various second tier death and black metal bands like Paganizer, Ribspreader, God Among Insects and Apostasy (ok, maybe third or fourth tier). The band is apparently taking cues from Dimmu Borgir with the semi-related three word title of its second album, Tank Gasmask Ammo. Musically, the band takes its cues from the death metal infused grindcore of early nineties Napalm death.
In the grindcore tradition, Tank Gasmask Ammo consists of thirteen relatively brief (two to four minutes) tracks. Vocalist/guitarist Crawl (AKA: Rogga Johansson) growls out tales of blood, guts, death and destruction in a fair imitation of Barney Greenway, but with more of an inclination to revel in rather than rail against the ills of society. Instrumentally, the band employs all the standard techniques of extreme metal: choppy thrash riffs, tremolo picking, blast beats, double bass and some stomping breakdowns. The inclusion of some tasteful lead guitar work from Worm (Crawl? Worm? Are these goofy names really necessary?) serves as an effective melodic counter to the bruising riffage. Full fledged solos are few, but Worm will frequently float a simple haunting figure over the rhythms to add some atmosphere to what is otherwise mostly visceral music. This technique is most effectively displayed on "All hail the Goat," the static pacing of which greatly benefits from the lead guitar's melodic injection.
Sadly, aside from the anomaly of lead guitar on a grindcore record, there is little to really set Those Who Bring the Torture apart from the legions of other bands vying for your dollar. The band performs competently to be sure, but they seem to lack a certain viciousness that this genre really requires. Too many of their tracks languish in mid-paced monotony and even when they do cut loose with some speed it just doesn't seem fast enough. For all the apocalyptic chaos conjured by their lyrical subject matter, Those Who Bring the Torture's music just seems a little too tame.
Tank Gasmask Ammo is a respectable album, but I cannot imagine that anyone is really desperate for any more old-school, retro anything at this point, even if it is from the relatively untapped field of death-grind. Besides, Napalm Death is still putting out some staggeringly ferocious records. Why buy an imitation when the original is still alive and kicking ass?
