December 18, 2007 | , | 4

Severe Torture, Sworn Vengeance

The Dutch masters of extreme water boarding, Sever Torture, are back with their sophomore effort for Earache Records. Sworn Vengeance is just over 35 minutes of death metal carnage — explosive drumming, rib splintering riffs and throat shredding vocals. Employing rapid fire tempo changes with a rumbling aural assault, Sever Torture hit violently with grizzly results.

There’s a sense of urgency to this latest release that gives the band a more rejuvenated sound that combines drummer Seth Van Der Loo’s devastating, ground shaking blasts, fills and creativity with crushing riffage and venomous solos from guitarists Laarhoven and Vriesde. Add in Dennis Schreurs guttural vocals and you’ve got yourself no-nonsense brutality with plenty of aggression, skill and destruction.

Dismal Perception
The opening track begins with 30 seconds or so of slowly fading in guitar noise before a series of blasts erupt from the drums. If you’re not awake after that brief volley of destruction, then the machine gun blasts and evil riffing will surely get the job done. There’s a great groove to this track that’ll have you head banging with a machete in no time. Too bad the song is over before you know it.

Serenity Torn Asunder
After that excellent album opener, “Serenity Torn Asunder” starts off with some beefy riffing and creative drum work as Schreurs lets loose with a few growls. The band quickly settle into a chugging groove accompanied by period blasts from the drums that often times seem inhuman. There’s a great lead at the 2:20 mark, just after a bit of chaotic drumming.

Fight Something
This one sees the band down shifting the speed a bit with a more guttural and dark delivery on Schreurs part. The riffing is evil as hell and memorable. There’s another great lead toward the end of the song.

Repeated Offender
I love the opening riff to “Repeated Offender.” It’s sure to be a classic complete with an underlying melodic groove that the band disguises well behind thick bass lines and calculated tempo changes. This is a slick song.

Countless Villains
A thick riff gets this next one rolling as heavy drums join in at about the 30 second mark. I highly recommend playing this one loud. It’s like an malignant announcement of your arrival where ever you go. The vocals have a nice layered effect on them that gives the song more depth than the previous tracks. This is an evil, dark and slow meat-grinding track.

Dogmasomatic Nausea
After that churning monolith of a track, Severe Torture pick the pace back up quickly with speedy riffs and thundering drums. “Dogmasomatic Nausea” has a brighter feel to it, but is no less aggressive. It’s got a great groove and a shredding lead that starts around the 2:30 mark.

Redefined Identity
“Redefined Identity” opens with beefy, chugging riffs and attacking drums. More layered vocals give the song nice depth and variety. It’s another mid paced, slow churning assault on the senses with slick guitar work and periodic muscle rupturing drum blasts. This is probably my favorite track on the album — an instant classic.

Buried Hatchet
“Buried Hatchet” features guest vocal work courtesy of Jason from Misery Index and former Born From Pain vocalist Che. It starts out with a heavy, evil riff and creative drum work to set the mood. Hearing the contrast between the three vocal talents makes this one quite an enjoyable listen.

Sworn Vegeance
The title track is also the longest one, weighing in at over 5 minutes, starting out with pummeling drums and a thick growl from Schreurs before the band settles into that meat hook groove. There’s a little more vocal experimentation on this one with a few nicely placed screams, layered backing vocals and guttural growls. There are several smooth tempo changes along the length of this one to keep you plenty entertained.

Submerged in Grief
The final track on the album is an instrumental that features soulful, yet dark guitar work and well paced drum work. It’s not quite slow enough to get that funeral dirge feel, but it’s pretty damned close.

~ ~ ~

For their latest effort, Sever Torture have created an churning, rusty blender grinding tour de death metal force. This one has plenty of variety and creative song writing to keep any fan of the band or passer-by waiting for each subsequent turn that band makes. Definitely check it out.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
There will be a limited edition run that contains bonus Cro-Mags and Entombed covers.