Not exactly what I would call a relic of the magnificent past, yet enough to be reminded from time to time. As Death Metal music starting sweeping Europe after the American eruption in the mid 80's, it gave birth to a large variety of bands crossing for the sacrilegious and blackened edges of Thrash to the gory brutish divinity of the harshest among the first acts of Death Metal. Presenting a thick skin Death Metal malignance, TORCHURE, hailed from Uelzen, Germany, welcomed with open arms the Death Metal invasion, and manifested their own version of both American and British embodiments with a few scares Dutch emblems, providing out of their distillery a chunky meat grinding Death Metal al'a early DEATH, MORBID ANGEL, PARADISE LOST, THANATOS, DISMEMBER and a clear Thrash disruption within SLAYER. In such a vast wave of bands, TORCHURE didn't exactly starred as the next best thing on my bill, however, the reissue of their debut "Beyond The Veil", via Vic Records, was enough for me to declare their importance within that wave the ruptured Europe.

Researching the angles of proto Brutal Death Metal, extreme Doom and Thrash Metal, "Beyond The Veil" achieved the same interest that drew me to old school Death Metal for the first time, starting with the morbid production, as the sound is inescapable, which even if not in superb quality added the material a sort of edge that elevated its impression, a kind of songwriting that suggested that the members where looking upon where to show their best. Furthermore, the cross riffery of Death / Doom / Thrash on display, showed a somewhat measure of development of how Thrash became to some degree deeper and tougher, even with acts such as the holy German triplet hit with barrages of mischievous assaults on every turn throughout this band's career, providing that oblivious Satanic intentions as a menacing myth. TORCHURE infected my spirit with agonizing soloing, short spurts of electrifying indisposition, absorbent mourning, which truly reminded the SLAYERish vibe, along with the meatiness of DEATH and MORBID ANGEL in particular. The rhythm guitaring also signaled of the old American giants, but displayed a direct European inclination. "Depressions", the album's finest work, emphasized a structured that might appear a bit rugged at first listen, but after a few listens it will clearly show a sort of progress, straightforward riffing but with ambiguous passages and fascinating shadowing, underlining the reason for this tune's well thought arrangement. The Thrash / Death destructive war machine of "Genocidal Confessions" and "Resort to Mortality", an epic journey through the mystique of Death Metal encasing the guttural Dutch calamity of the scene's earlier gods with an intriguing Doom molestation of PARADISE LOST, paraded this band's to be nearly anywhere with the pristine extremity that appeared so appealing.

Frankly, I have no knowledge regarding the reason for this band's disbandment. Possibly, after a small research, that a serious of death within the lineup caused an unrepairable damage that simply greeted the band's demise. Either way, the loss of TORCHURE can be deemed as a loss of yet another band from the older days of Death Metal, a union of members that presented a fine debut, a grotesque but in the same way elegant message of untamed sorrowful path to damnation.