Maze Of Torment is a true Death Metal act named after a Morbid Angel song and shows plenty of renaissance as well as Thrash influences. This is their fifth assault and the strongest one so far. Intense and aggressive Death / Thrash Metal they've made their own way (not to be looked upon as a retro band). The band's four previous albums have all been relesaed by diffrent labels and were always cursed with huge delays and poor distribution. But Maze of torment never cease to make music their way, despite all the setbacks and bad luck.
The band remained unsigned for a certain time period and decided to return to the Abyss to record the fifth album entitled Hammers of Mayhem on their own budget. After a new deal with Black Lodge Records it's now a fact and the Hammers of Mayhem album can finally be released. Would you really believe that one of the former names of this band used to be Harmony? It's quite hard to compose something really unique in Death Metal today but these Swedish guys seem to be to be enjoying the ride and the music they are offering us!
Prior to the listening of this CD I had a terrible headache and felt very week and dizzy! I thought to myself that if I listened to Maze Of Torment now my head would explode! On the contrary what happened was that my headache was overcome and I cheered instantly! So I guessed that Maze Of Torment are really cool heavy guys playing an aspirin type of refreshing and pure Heavy Metal! Their musical style is of course Death Metal, which they play with a lot of passion. The guitar work is really well but most of all clearly well played. Elements of Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse are found here and there but these guys do not sound so cannibalistic or morbid as the aforementioned Metal Gods! We must also mention the guitar's cool lead parts as well as the firm and bone cracking drumming! The voice is really tough and hard but you can almost hear every word he sings! There are quite a lot of tempo changes which really add to the intensity of the album as well as the interest for it. Ah the demons on the cover artwork are also very cool and evil!
Their cover of Venom's In League With Satan is x-tra cool and of course x-tra satanic! Thumbs up guys! Top moments here are: Beyond The Infernal Gates, F.O.E. (Face Of Evil) , Tyrannizer, Dead Soul, In League With Satan.
More than anything else the truth is that if you want to sleep and have good dreams just listen to some Genesis before you go to sleep! But if you want to have first class nightmares just listen to Hammers Of Mayhem and the rest is history...