Torment

Fear Of Missing Out EP

Written by: PP on 02/02/2016 21:05:16

Torment is a Copenhagen, Denmark-based hardcore group that was founded back in 2011. According to their own words, they are influenced by Strife and Snapcase, and their music is primarily designed to work in a live environment. You can't hear the former much in their sound, but the latter is definitely true as yours truly can attest from having seen them perform with the fury and power of an uncontrollable freight train in Copenhagen in the past. Stylistically, the band plays uncompromising hardcore-fueled by punk and d-tempo undertones, as well as the occasional dip into thrash and melodic hardcore in terms of the guitar melodies.

The outcome on record is, unfortunately, mediocre and far from the genre standard within hardcore. Their latest EP, the six-track "Fear Of Missing Out", is a good example where the composition has been largely forgotten in search of a powerful, explosive sound as the band suggest is their purpose live. While at small venues their high-energy performance helps compensate for the lacklustre songwriting, the EP exposes it bare for what it is: forgettable and extremely monotonous. The guitars make a commendable effort to distinguish the songs from each other, but the flat percussion due to subpar production and the totally monotone vocal delivery removes any edge these may have had. For example, "He Walks Among Us" starts with a somber and slow guitar melody that breaks into technical riffs referencing thrash metal acts, but when the vocals come in the same, unvaried grating style they do on rest of the tracks, they fail to make a good impression. Moreover, just because they're technically advanced doesn't necessarily render them good from a compositional perspective.

"Celebrate" is the track that offers most variety on record, and here they basically sound like they borrowed huge parts from The Psyke Project's barren winter landscapes, where even the background howls sound more or less like they were stolen from the latter band. An exaggeration perhaps, but it serves to highlight the problems throughout "Fear Of Missing Out". "Place To Be" is probably the best track on the record because of its memorable "Copenhagen haaaaardcooore" razor sharp vocal section, but that's about the only good thing you can say about the song. In the end, Torment don't really sound like no-one, least of all themselves. Mediocre songs over mediocre production means "Fear Of Missing Out" EP is far from an acceptable product in as crowded a genre as hardcore.

Download: Place To Be, Celebrate
For the fans of: Trapped Under Ice, Strife
Listen: Facebook

Release date 18.09.2015
Self-Released

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