Review: Tor Marrock – 'Destroy The Soul'

TOR MARROCK
'Destroy The Soul' 

BLACK VULTURE RECORDS 

The mysterious Welsh gothic-doom trio Tor Marrock first crept from beneath the waves of cardigan bay with the release of their début album 'A Gothic Romance' (later re-recorded and re-released as 'Heaven's Death Lights Kindle'. The album told a heavy and harrowing tale of two lovers separated by a suicide pact that had gone wrong. Musically the band's blend of doom, death metal, gothic rock and even industrial strains pinned together with impressive guitar work highlighted them as a band to watch. 

The band's follow-up, 'Destroy The Soul', sees a harsher and more brutal metal style brought to the fore with the band picking up from where tracks like 'Death Of Summer' had left off. 'Destroy The Soul' and 'Born In Blood' immediately make you sit up and take notice with their breakneck delivery and chant-a-long lyrics. While the sombre and Celtic Frost style 'Christ Betrayed' injects a heavy dose of doom into the album with it's quiet intro, sludge-like verses and harsh chorus. 'The Harbouring Of Suicidal Thoughts' continues down a more schizophrenic path with the slow-to-fast ratio touched on in the previous song becoming stronger and introducing a near black metal edge to the song.

The intro to 'The Night Always Ends' almost evokes the lead riff of 'Silence' from the previous album, however the stomping gothic rock of the main body of the track is far more in keeping with the likes of 'De-Nude Our Poisoned Minds'. The hard and heavy chugging riff of 'The Waves' is perhaps one of the strongest songs in the band's entire arsenal thus far. It's straightforward and truly encapsulates every strand of the band's sound very effectively. 'Why Do You Look In My Eyes?' slows things down again and brings out the doom once more to really shows off what the band can do atmospherically. The album closes on 'I Feel The Sun, I See The Stars', which again plays up the gothic rock side of the band with a fantastic riff and addictive melodic chorus.

It is immediately evident that the production has had a major upgrade from the band's last outing, with the guitars, vocals and drums sounding more organic and comfortable within the mix. The band have captured a cold and almost subterranean atmosphere on this recording that truly befits their self-created 'Cellar Metal' tag.

With influences such as Celtic Frost, Type O Negative, Fields Of The Nephilim evident in their sound and song-writing process, Tor Marrock are perhaps the UK metal underground's best kept secret. It would be great to see a few more releases more often from them (even if it was just a short EP or single). However, if this is the kind of quality that is the result of being locked away for a few years, who am I to argue?

Posted in: Destroy The Soul,music,Tor Marrock