Torture - Storm Alert (1989)

These ruffians would get an 8/10 even if we'd only had the pleasure to hear the frightening title track, an almost eight-minute mid tempo epic that brings together the best moments of Kreator/bathory/Destruction/Sodom et al, a sinister creation that pukes black smoke from those gurgled vocals, whilst the shredding guitars chug ominously. 'Storm Alert' is a massive sounding thrash record that offers so much in the way of layers, whether in the form of those subtle acoustics that puncture tracks such as 'Blood Portraits,' to the downright colossal and yet weirdlt festive 'Slay Ride with its Christmas intro that soon leads into a pounding thrash classic, complete with twisted guitars and hateful vocals. Fascinating stuff, even in its naivety, and yet with such an obscure and clandestine feel, Torture venture into cavernous depths to vomit out their doom laden thrash assault, one only has to experience the strange structures that open 'Dwell Into Surreality' to appreciate how ahead of its time this sort of stuff is, and it's one of those records that creates a bewildering array of peculiar and esoteric atmospheres. A fine yet criminally underated album. 8/10