Torturers’ Lobby perfectly embody the sage advice that to make your own sound, you need to smash everything you like together, toss it into the musical blender and see what comes out. In the case of this Tampa-based quartet, there’s a lot of thrash metal energy, death metal menace, black metal riff-work, and bits and pieces of other styles in the mix. At several points over the band’s debut album, Deadened Nerves, you’ll think “ah, ok this is totally a death metal song,” and then the band will break into an atmospheric bridge with hypnotic black metal guitars that you didn’t expect. And then there will be a punky thrash song after that! And they pull it off so seamlessly!
But more to the point, the band does it all so well. The album has a raw, unnerving aspect, but also features a strong low end that gives it plenty of power and punch. Therefore, Decibel is totally stoked to feature the album streaming in full below. Deadened Nerves comes out on CD and tape via Caligari Records (fittingly!) and on vinyl via Ixiol Productions this Friday, June 14. You can find preorder information here.