To speak about the 80's extreme Metal with few words, I must stated that: there were some nice and great bands back on those days. But of course there were some that couldn't be anything else than a clone (yes, they existed back then) in the middle of names like METALLICA, SLAYER, DARK ANGEL, ANTHRAX, MEGADETH DEATH, POSSESSED in United States and DESTRUCTION, ONSLAUGHT, KREATOR, CORONER, SODOM, IRON ANGEL and others on EUROPE. So, it was extremely hard to do something different. But it was the need, as it was in the 70s (take a look on BLACK SABBATH's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and you'll get what I'm trying to say), was in the 90s and is now: you must do your music on your own, with your personality, or you'll be seeing as a clone. And I'm sorry to say, but THE HORDE OF TORMENT, from the USA, was nothing more than a clone, as "Distorted Recollections" is here to proof.

Besides it's a collection of some of their Demo Tapes, along with some live songs and the band, besides having former MACHINE HEAD's guitarist Ahue Luster on those days, is just a untalented clone from DARK ANGEL on "Darkness Descends" era with some aspects from KREATOR during "Pleasure To Kill" times. Of course it has energy and is very aggressive, but I already have and love those bands that inspired their work, so I don't need a clone.

The sound quality oscillates between good moments with some nasty and filthy ones, what we can understand due it's a compilation. But there are moments where it becomes better, as we hear during "Just Call Me Suicide" and "Tear Down The Walls", the moments where some personality is given, being more melodic and a bit far from that Thrash Metal cloning process.

The better moments are heard on materials from 1991's "Inherit The Sin" Demo (the songs "Inherit The Sin", "Alive Within" and "Pain Asylum"), where they seem to be evolving into a cleaner and more melodic form of Thrash Metal in a trend that seems to be in the vein of old METALLICA and TESTAMENT, and on "Just Call Me Suicide" and "Tear Down The Walls". They are more melodic and showing a god amount of personality on them, but the rest is really disgusting and moldy, being just a boring clone.

I have to praise Divebomb Records' staff for their good will in recovering some past bands that really deserve a chance, but "Distorted Recollections" could be released as a 5 track EP. But to be honest, I suggest you to run and rescue some bands from USA like RUTHLESS and some from that time, that would be great.<