Album Review: Torture Rack - Primeval Onslaught
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Kicking off my picks for June we have Torture Rack and their upcoming album titled Primeval Onslaught, slated for release come June 9th. Formed in 2012, Torture Rack are a death metal act based out of Oregon, United States where since their sophomore album, Malefic Humiliation, back in 2018, the band have been signed on to the esteemed record label 20 Buck Spin. Now this same record label is gearing to release the band’s third album, Primeval Onslaught, a full five years on from their last full length work. The band’s earliest releases came in the form of a 2013 Demo titled Medieval Mutilation, but would soon release their debut full length two years on with 2015’s Barbaric Persecution. Prior to this upcoming release, the band gave us an EP in 2021 called Pit Of Limbs as well as a Compilation released earlier this year that sees the band’s various Demo and EP work brought together. So, on the cusp of their third studio record, let’s delve into Primeval Onslaught and see what Torture Rack are all about.
One thing that will strike you straight away is how compact and clenched the production on this record sounds. The band perform exactly as you’d want a death metal act to do so, yet there’s little indication their sound is given the freedom to dissipate naturally. Everything the band do is tightly controlled and there’s no sign that anything they didn’t want their audience to hear is given the potential to see the light of day. Riffs, drum strikes and even the vocals possesses this particularly closed-in aesthetic as if Primeval Onslaught was mixed within a very close set of walls and thereby, the band had little room to work with. From one standpoint it limits the album’s scope; you aren’t going to receive anything overtly grand in the soundscape, it’s going to sound rather by the books. On the other hand, channelling their performance into a mix more compact than we may be used to results in a band that are constantly pinching you in the jaw since their instrumentation has been stripped of anything that could allow power to slip away.
One other feature to this form of production is how the drums have been given a heightened presence, although there are barely any blast beats to recall or remember. The majority of the drumming is pretty old school, relying much more on traditional patterns and styles to keep the pace of this record going. Rarely do the drums initiate blast beats and, even when they are, it’s only for brief periods of a song before the pace settles down again and the general aesthetic the band seem to prefer sets back in once more. Torture Rack aren’t here to blister our senses from start to finish, but to craft an experience that will grab you by the collar and whisk you through a roaring journey. It’s why the Tom-Tom strikes feel so prominent, and though the variety in songwriting doesn’t meander greatly, even typical drum strikes carry weight and purpose and helps to bind the audience with the soundscape all the more.
The riffs, equally, have been written not to burst out with power that much. The record on the whole wraps the instrumentation and vocal work very closely together so there’s little that can strike out on its own accord; as a result, it’s difficult to remove pieces of this record apart without damaging the collective work because each element feels intrinsic and necessary for the other to leave its impact. With that said, the riffs evidently harness a stronger, downtuned tone compared to more contemporary death metal acts. It again brings us back to what aims Torture Rack had for this album; it’s clear now they weren’t going for something sporadic and sweeping, but we’re looking for something intimate, smaller and far more to the point. It is however great to acknowledge that while the riffs play at a lower tuning, we can still feel the might they exude. They never fade into the background while the rest of the band play. They’re always on display at a moment’s notice and that clenched aesthetic is propagated through the guitar work more than any other aspect of this record.
What did surprise me was how quick this album really is. Torture Rack are not in the business of writing elongated and elaborate songs; their approach to songwriting is to craft a track around a riff or certain sequence, play off that, then move on to the next piece. The band aren’t looking to hang around with you any more than is necessary, thereby giving their record a sense of urgency to get underway as soon as is feasible. Few tracks herein go on for longer than three minutes, with some barely reaching ninety seconds. This is where some grindcore elements come into force as Torture Rack, here and there, unleash their potential for more devastating, bitesize offerings as the band choose not to develop their songwriting too much for any one track. It’d a case of getting in, doing what is needed to get audiences riled and on board with their riffs, then bowing out before the next piece reinvigorates us.
In conclusion, Primeval Onslaught is a monstrous record that will throw you against all the walls it can find. There’s little going on here that you won’t have encountered before, yet it’s good to see Torture Rack still implement numerous features into their songwriting ti keep things entertaining and engaging. The straightforward songwriting and grindcore elements are a welcome sight as the band choose not to weight us down with anything that would be deemed unnecessary throughout their performance. Soloing is rare and therefore all the greater an occurrence when we hear it for the band’s approach to death metal is by the books, but Torture Rack make up for this by crafting a soundscape that’s bold and compact. If anything, Primeval Onslaught is a man oddly intoxicating listen since the bass-heavy production results in a performance that envelops you entirely. On the whole, a great record and one I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing.
