Pandemonium

Have you ever heard Torture Squad's debut album, Shivering? If you have, you know that it's not impressive, and the production sucks so badly that the bass even hides the guitars at some points. Not that the guitars are any good: the riffs are monotonous and repetitive, and the solos are simply boring.

Of course, this is a review about Pandemonium, but it is interesting to note that Torture Squad has been improving their music release after release. Unlike the bands that fall in mediocrity just after getting famous (being Metallica the most bizarre example), the more well-known Torture Squad gets, the better they get. Ten years after releasing their terrible debut, Torture Squad finished recording their masterpiece, Hellbound.

My point is that this album doesn't deserve most of the praise that it usually gets. Altough it is kind of nice to listen to, it is no Hellbound. I would say that this is a prelude: seeing how much they had evolved since Shivering, it was no surprise that the album that followed this one was so great. Also, in Pandemonium the characteristics that would make Hellbound so great begin to appear: Pandemonium is much faster than their previous albums, employs complex structures and catchy riffs.

Yet, the production is far from perfect, the bass makes everything way too heavy and most songs get boring after three minutes (every song here overuses riffs, except Horror and Torture). The acoustic track, Requiem for the Headless Rider, is extremely repetitive (unlike its Hellbound counterpart, The Four Winds), and the introduction is not as tense as it's supposed to be. Not that this album doesn't have anything to enjoy: the title track has amazing riffs and vocals, and sticks to your head easily, and Towers on Fire is also quite enjoyable.

Horror and Torture is, however, easily the best track in this recording: its structure is as complex as Chaos Corporation's one, the vocals are incredible and the guitars discard riffs at an alarming rate (it takes guts to use 5-6 excellent riffs in a single song). The solo is also amazingly fast, and has the power to drive any headbanger insane in a 500 meters radius. To counter it we have World of Misery, a song with one of the worst produced and crappiest introductions of all time.

It is ok to download this album, but I wouldn't bother to buy it. It is nothing incredible, just something regularly good. Save your money for Hellbound. If you already have Hellbound, save your money for Aequilibrium, their soon-to-come album. I bet that it will be great.