Hell hath no fury... Five ladies from Singapore, known as Tormentress, created their debut album a decade ago (but released via Infernö Records in late 2014). There hasn't been much signs of life from this band since, except for the split tape with The End A.D. in 2018.

Anyway, this doesn't sound like it came from 2010s century. It's more like it was 1980s again, so you better prepare your trusty mental DeLorean and fire it up! Painted cover art, familiar logo (oh dang, where have I seen it before?!), damsels in denim & leather with patches and bullet belts. Feels like déjà vu. You'll surely feel younger when you bang your head to this baby!

So, Tormentress aren't doing heavy metal the Iron Maiden style (like thinking after seeing that logo typography), but are thrashers as should be clear from seeing the band's photo. 'Operation Torment' mainly gives me European vibes (hey, there's a Kreator cover song for a big hint), but yeah, there are moments of primeval US thrashing, like 'Kill 'Em All' style bits in 'Why'. Holy Moses, Kreator, Sodom... plus Metallica, when they got bite. And about 1000 bands from archetypal thrash metal age. This really is not unique, but I didn't expect it to be. I am always looking for a good tune, after all.

So, was hell unleashed here? No, not really. It's belligerent, but it isn't full-blown aggressive. There's tight thrashing and also skanky crossover stuff, as expected from thrash metal glorifying the archaic 80's. It goes from fast to mid-paced tempos. The general impression is that this is rather simplistic, but then again a riff is often catchy. There's not much of lead guitar work to be heard, but when it happens, it's noticeable.

This is a raw recording. The drummer drags on the intro piece, but thankfully that's mainly gone when the real action begins. But that's of course real thing, as there's no studio "magic" like editing utilized. This is done in 1980s' way. The guitar tone is quite ripping or meaty when needed, the drums sound both punchy yet slacking and somewhat powerless, and the bass guitar is pulsating there. The vocals are sometimes similar to Mille of Kreator, but generally lower; definitely beastly, especially for a lady (while exhibiting typical thrash metal lyric topic from war to evil and from thrashers to religions, there's a female point of view about music business and bigger picture).

The band still managed to record some atomic energy here, for sure. The songs are almost all the time catchy, but there's no originality to be found (except for some of the lyrics). I am enjoying getting my neck sore to 'Operation Torment', and I hope thrash metal fanatics of the world will feel so, too.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
06/20/2023 19:00