Band: Torrefy
Album: Life Is Bad
Label: Self Release
Genre: Speed Metal
Release: 1st July, 2020
After four years, Victoria's (BC) Torrefy are releasing their latest offering of blackened speed metal to the masses. Life Is Bad is their third full length record, and could be my favorite of their releases thus far - It certainly doesn't hurt that Joel Grind did the mastering on this record.
While Life Is Bad is not a concept album as the previous The Infinity Complex was, there is still a consistent theme that, well, life is bad. It's a thrash-tinged speed metal fest, with Ferguson's electric ridden screams howling all throughout. The tracks are expansive, with varying time signatures, explosive riffs and soaring melodic passages.
I noticed that the overall sound seems to somehow be cohesive, despite dipping their toes into several different styles. If you were to look at LIB side by side with TIC, it's apparent that they have taken the time to truly figure out who they are and what their sound is. The run time on LIB is almost the same length as TIC (1:04:10 compared to 1:02:29), but I find myself enjoying the latest effort much more instead of wondering when it would end.
Torrefy released a video for the final track on the record, "Plague Of Empires." Running at just under six minutes, it fits in a sprinkle of everything you can expect on the album as a whole. Progressive passages, straight up shredding, heavy as hell riffs, lovely harmonic bits and - of course - depressive lyrics like "hope has bred naught but resentment" and "how can we hope to proceed when each step is taken backwards." Check out the video below.
Life Is Bad is a solid offering, but not genre defining. If anything it's redefined the sound that Torrefy is going for, and they have certainly honed in on their take of the thrash genre. This reviewer will be listening to Life Is Bad for some time in the future, that's for sure.
I'm giving Life Is Bad an 8.5/10
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