TORTURE DIVISION AND BENT SEA: “DOUBLE PENETRATION”

It was barely more than a month ago when Torture Division released their latest three-song assault on the senses (The Worship, reviewed here), and damned if they aren’t already back with another release. And damned if they don’t have company this time, because Double Penetration is a split release by Torture Division and Bent Sea, which is another super-group, and one we haven’t heard from in a while.

I had to crawl all the way back to November 2011 to find the post I wrote about Bent Sea’s debut album, Nostalgia. At that point the band consisted of guitarist/drummer Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve), vocalist Sven de Caluwe (Aborted), and bassist Devin Townsend (you read that right). Devin Townsend didn’t participate in Bent Sea’s contribution to Double Penetration, his shoes having been filled by none other than Napalm Death’s Shane Embury.

The Bent Sea track is a ditty called “Partners In Grind”. It’s a bone-shaker and a neck-snapper, a death-grind marauder with a beastly off-tempo mid-section. I’ve taken the liberty of uploading it to our Soundcloud account so you can hear it. And then of course you should go download it from Torture Division’s web site (more on that later).

 

 

But now let’s get back to Torture Division.

 

It is by now a well-established scientific fact that the three members of the band — Lord K Philipson (guitar), Tobben Gustafsson (drums), and Jörgen Sandström (bass/vocals) — have Swedish death metal flowing through their veins instead of blood. It appears that all they have to do is make a few incisions and the ass-blasting music just flows out effortlessly.

Their new song, mixed and mastered once again by the legendary Dan Swanö at Unisound, is entitled “Paddling the Pink Canoe In A River of Blood”. In the band’s words, “This one is quite possibly one of our best songs ever, along with every other tune we have ever recorded.” I couldn’t agree more.

You press play and it’s like you’ve just swung open the door to a blast furnace. This one blazes right from the beginning, with grind intensity and speed. But what really sold me on the track was the breakdown that comes at 1:30 and the spine-fracturing bass lead that soon follows. Heads will fuckin’ bang. Check it out:

 

 

Now if somehow you’re not familiar with Torture Division’s modus operandi, you will be happy to know that they give away all their music for free — though contributions are accepted, and if you like the music, contributions are smart because that increases the chances that TD will keep turning out more prime releases like this one. Go HERE to download this Double Penetration split and make a contribution if you so choose.