Customer Reviews

Torment in Fire

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This has got to be one of the best pure speed metal albums to emerge from the mid-'80s and yet it never gets the credit it deserves. Just witness how relatively rare this excellent 2-CD 2005 Marquee Records reissue already is. And yet you NEED this CD if you want to witness a milestone in thrash/speed/death metal history. It's worth every penny.

Recorded in a basement studio in Toronto during September and October of 1985, "Torment In Fire" cost roughly $500 to record and yet it is as powerful today as it was then. It is so rippingly fast, vicious and underground sounding. I mean it, I get more excitement from listening to this record than I do from even "Hell Awaits" or "Darkness Descends."

The mood is set properly with the "Evil Dead"-inspired intro "the Awakening" and then it's the title track for the band "Sacrifice," a high velocity number which includes the lyrics, "Under Baphomet she's bleeding fast/With the corpse indulge in a bloodbath/Pray to the master that this will suffice/Split her skull for the altar sacrifice." I don't know about you but I love horror/gore lyrics and these Scarborough, Ontario boys were masters of this. The lyrics are as evil and splatter filled as those of Repulsion (then known as Genocide), who the band mention on the thank list to the original LP (included here in its original glory), and I feel that the speed and brutality in Repulsion's music was also in part an influence from Sacrifice. Perhaps the best track on the album is "Warrior of Death," a classic number that had me moshing around my room just now as I previewed the album before this review.

Again, you couldn't ask for a better reissue of this album than this. Included are extensive liner notes with a band and album history, lyrics and all artwork and photos from the original LP, and track by track recollections from Sacrifice guitarists Rob Urbinati and Joe Rico, who fully endorsed this re-release.

Old school speed/thrash metal is again king at the time of this writing, and I cannot think of an album from this era that endures as well as "Torment In Fire." Get this now!

This CD is in excellent condition. I highly recommend it as it brings back a lot of memories. Sacrifice is truly one of the best thrash metal bands ever. They are right up there with old Slayer music and Wehrmacht. It came wrapped, sealed, and delivered quickly. I thought I would never see this LP, which has many more added tracks, ever again. It was worth every cent.