Review by Xephyr for Tormentor - Anno Domini (1989)

Missed the Wave

Right in the middle of Bathory's Blood Fire Death and the resurgence of Black Metal in the early 90's with the new blood of Darkthrone, Emperor, and Mayhem comes a very strange cult classic that I just couldn't wrap my head around. What starts out as a serviceable occult Thrash album turns into a mess of awfully done lo-fi production with certain instruments cutting in and out of certain sides of the mix and some truly laughable vocals after "Transylvania", which I'm going to call the point of no return for this album. 

Anno Domini is full of decent but messy Thrash tracks plus the slower tempo Black Metal staple "Elizabeth Bathory" to break up the monotony, but everything past "Transylvania's" swing opener is just awful. It's aimless, horribly grating, and just generally uninteresting. Even the Thrash solos really lose their edge after the first few attempts, and the blast beats just overpower anything that could have been halfway interesting. 

It's insane to think that this release came out a year after Bathory's Blood Fire Death, which of course is a huge name to live up to, but I expected something a little more refined than whatever this is. I don't get that same sort of lo-fi kick out of this that I do with Bathory or other early Black Metal bands, and I also don't get any sort of evil atmosphere either. If anything I was cracking up laughing at half of this stuff, so this one was a bit of a disappointment for me, to say the least.