Artist: Tormented Vision
Title: Incite Hatred
Type: Album
Label: Unsigned

This is the first full length from Birmingham based Tormented Vision, who are certainly a new name to my ears. New name perhaps, but nothing I haven’t heard before. Things get going with a bit of ‘Foreplay’ (ooh-er) which builds to ‘Capitalise On Weakness’ which is a heavy but rather slow-paced romp. Musically this comes across as competent though pedestrian – it is executed well enough although there is nothing adventurous about it and certainly it isn’t boundary-shattering stuff. That said, if you’re after a quick fix of something to get the head banging and the foot tapping then this should do you nicely. ‘Enigma Virus’ thrashes out fairly hard with vehement drumming and some solid riffs, although the lead guitars here are a little ropey. There is even a classic heavy metal vibe that comes across in places, most notably on ‘Incite Hatred,’ although the core sound is rooted in a thrash/death hybrid and there’s a brutal edge to the delivery that is at times rather blunt and bludgeoning.

‘For The Slaughter’ takes a clean swipe at the throat with a speedy thrash riff, before slowing down into a churning moshable rhythm. The one thing that really does irk me with this release is the vocals, which are a brutal, unintelligible death grunt – unlike certain fellow scribes I shall not dismiss a band purely for having “cookie monster” vocals – while I’m not the worlds greatest death metal aficionado I can appreciate when this vocal technique is done well but in this case they just sound rather dull and droning and sound very much like a poor mans Glen Benton and at times verge on the comical. There’s a hint of a ‘Raining Blood’ lick sneaking through momentarily on ‘Brutal’ before breaking into some competent fiddly-widdly guitar soloing.

I can tell some effort has gone into packaging this and as far as presentation and even production go this can’t be faulted. These eight tracks are solid but uninspiring and are unlikely to blow you away. That said, it’s enough to get heads banging and there’s no reason why this band couldn’t become a decent outfit with a bit of commitment.

http://www.myspace.com/tormentedvision