Torture Tactics

The Resistance

Sometimes it's good to get angry, maybe even a little homicidal.  For those times, everyone […]
By Tom Colyer
April 2, 2015
The Resistance - Torture Tactics album cover

Sometimes it's good to get angry, maybe even a little homicidal.  For those times, everyone needs a soundtrack and I'm sure this is not just something that I've thought of when sharpening my knives in the basement once the power has gone out.  Through the many possible candidates I have been torn between CHIMAIRA - "The Impossibility Of Reason" for the sheer blood lust and hatred or JUSTIN BIEBER - "Believe", simply to inspire me to do things so depraved that there are no human words for them.  This was until I heard the most recent offering from THE RESISTANCE.

The Swedish super-group released their first album in 2013 and have yet to disappoint.
 They have already made a name for themselves as being purveyors of all things pissed off and brutal and the latest release "Torture Tactics" is a perfect continuation along this path.

The album launches into a vicious assault within seconds of the opening gambit and deliciously promises to keep up this pummeling until everything fades to black.  It's not the kind of incoherent onslaught with heavy objects that you'll get from most Death Metal however, this is a very clear beating with bare hands, one where they stare you in the eyes before gouging them out with their thumbs.  The guitars have so many of the brutally melodic elements that were present in early ARCH ENEMY songs, although infused with the kind of fire that you can find closer to the Hardcore realms bands like HATEBREED.  With machine gun like drums and a pace that refuse to quit, the album soldiers on through the varying faces of anger and hatred but not without chilling out (albeit briefly) for some of the more beautiful sides of murder.  This lends to my favourite moment of the album, the brief interlude that is "Dying Words".  It feels like everything stops for a minute, if for no other reason than to take a breathe and wipe the  blood from it's knuckles and spit of the clumps of face that got lodged behind the molars.  The fact that this all feels completely in place is something that stands as a testament to how well made the album truly is.

All in all, this is a fantastic album and will be enjoyed by anyone that misses the simpler times when it was enough to simply be pissed off and want to punch something very hard in a very squishy spot.

9 / 10

Almost Perfect

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"Torture Tactics" Track-listing:

1. For War
2. Dead
3. Cowards
4. Deception
5. The Burning
6. Slugger
7. Expand To Expire
8. Face To Face

The Resistance Lineup:

Christofer Barkensjö - Drums
Jesper Strömblad - Guitars
Glenn Ljungström - Guitars
Marco Aro - Vocals
Robert Hakemo - Bass

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