SEVERE TORTURE - Slaughtered CD Review

ARTIST: Severe Torture
ALBUM: Slaughtered
YEAR: 2010
LABEL: Season Of The Mist
REVIEWED BY: Caroline Restiaux

Releasing a hard hitting album never seems like a daunting task for Dutch quintet Severe Torture. The band proves time and time again that consistency is what bands need to ensure a solid longevity in the business. Far too often bands change lineups, change up their style of playing and get lost in the "trends" of the modern metal scene. For these brutes none of that has been necessary to keep them around for so long. Not much has changed with their style of playing since their first album "Feasting On Blood" and the line up has been together for just over a decade.

"Slaughtered" is the follow up to their 2007 release "Sworn To Vengeance". This album as with all of their works is like a punch to the gutt and a smack in the face. Eventhough their riffs may be a bit predictable from time to time they still offer chunky rhythms throughout. It's like the band took the songwriting from their last couple of releases and revisited their first couple of albums put them together and added some darker melodies to arrive at this product. It's only real downfall is that the album is still a pretty standard one without anything jumping out at you allowing the band to step up to the fore front of other brutal death metal acts. My fave tracks are "Defective Fornification", "Unholy Misconception" and "Slaughtered".

The production is crisp but takes a bit away from their dirty sound and also loses a bit of the bass playing. As I mentioned at the begining of the review it is clear that when the band recorded this album they were depending more on consistency then creating the next big thing to come out of a metal catalogue. If you are a fan of the bands earlier work then this will more then likely bit a hit. It's also recommended for those who like Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse.

TRACKLISTING:

01. Grave Condition
02. Unholy Misconception
03. Deride Jesus
04. Defective Fornification
05. Slaughtered
06. Feeding On Cadavers
07. Inferior Divinity
08. Incarnation Of Impurity
09. To Relieve The Mortal Flesh Of Pain
10. Swallowing Decay