TORTORUM – Rotten. Dead. Forgotten

The Norwegian black metal outfit known as Tortorum impressed me greatly with their excellently executed second full-length assault entitled "Katabasis", so naturally I was looking forward to this upcoming mini-album of theirs, "Rotten. Dead. Forgotten". Stylistically speaking, the music is still firmly rooted in sinister and ominous black metal, but, as with "Katabasis", there is a lot of diversity and quite a few twisted ideas scattered throughout the six haunting and sickening gospels that constitute this release. I especially like the mid-paced parts with their snake-slithering riffs and creepy atmosphere. Dark and morbid through and through, but strangely attractive as well. Both the guitars and vocals are howling with pain, agony, and hatred, and that pleases me to no end.

It is not that Tortorum is innovative as such, but the band does possess an identity of its own. Maybe what sets the band apart from so many other outfits is that these guys can actually play and know perfectly well how to write engaging and captivating songs that are memorable and yet sufficiently "off" for you to return to them many times over in order to decipher them. To put it briefly, "Rotten. Dead. Forgotten." is a most worthy addition to an already impressive discography, and when I say impressive I am not referring to the quantity of releases, but the quality of them. Tortorum is not your average run-of-the-mill bullshit. This is the real deal.

https://www.facebook.com/Tortorum