Skourge - Torrential Torment LP

The debut album from Thrash/Death/Hardcore crossover crew Skourge is just under twenty-nine minutes of pure auditory adrenaline, every song a short, sharp shock to the system that doesn’t give two fucks about “fitting in” or making friends.

From the moment that the title track – all bone-rattling bass-lines, chunky, churning riffs, and punchy, punked-up percussive patterns – kicks things into high gear, all the way through to the final fading strains of crushing closer “Old Gods Return”, Torrential Torment doesn’t pull any punches, with most of the songs clocking in at around three minutes or less (and in the case of the furiously thrashy “Peasants Revolt” and the grim, grinding “Hallucinator”, much less).

Comparisons to Power Trip are, obviously, always going to be valid, and there are definitely some similarities to last year’s killer Spiritworld or Slowbleed albums too (although whereas the latter took some clear influence from latter-day Pantera it feels like Skourge have more in common with Diabolus… era Slayer), while the slower, chuggier moments of tracks like “Visions in the Mist” and “Blood Red Sun” share a share a sense of Xibalba-esque intensity that’s absolutely unquestionable.

But there’s also no question that Skourge have an even more prominent D-Beat/Hardcore side to them, and Torrential Torment is a more stripped-down, bare-bones experience – in the best possible way – than many of their more prominent peers, making for an album that has absolutely no fat, and zero filler, whether they’re getting their Thrash-Punk groove on during “Flagellation” or cutting loose with some disgustingly aggressive Death-Crust on “Nothing Is Sacred”.

It’s definitely not one for the purists, that’s for sure. But for those who understand that all heavy music shares a common ancestry… this is a welcome reminder of the raw, unvarnished roots of what we all love.

• No Clean Singing