TORTURED - A Lesson In Holocaust

Death metallers TORTURED have currently put their live shows on hold whilst writing and recording their debut album ‘A Lesson In Holocaust’. I recently caught up with vocalist Brendan to discuss the forthcoming debut - tentatively planned to be unleashed later this year to early 2011 - as well as other plans and intricacies regarding the quintet.

Forming in 2006, how has Tortured changed in the past four years?

Brendan; The line up, musicality, new songs. Our attitude to the music has become more professional.

Have you found a different musical direction during this time, or have you stuck with the same principles?

Brendan; Same principles but heavier, more melodic and thought out songs, also trying to push our limits with every step.

You’re currently working on your debut album, ‘A Lesson In Holocaust’, how is the progress so far?

Brendan; Songs are completely written, drums are recording, guitars next, then bass and then finally finalising lyrics. The vocals will then be laid down.

We have already decided where it will be revamped and mastered but that information will come out with the album.

How will the forthcoming album differ from your demo and will some tracks from the latter creep onto the debut?

Brendan; It will be a lot different, the demo songs are good and have a place in that time of the band, but with progress comes change, so we will not include any songs from the demo. We will still play some of them live in our set. Our new songs are more epic as has been shown to audiences that have seen only two of them.

Why the moniker of ‘A Lesson In Holocaust’, is it in a way a representation of the band’s aggressive sound?

Brendan; The title was devised by Marcus [guitars], after reading a newspaper article about a holocaust in Russia, entitled A Lesson in Holocaust.

It really has no reference to our aggressive sound, but more towards our artwork and fascination with zombies and death. A Lesson In Holocaust will be more understood when the album is released and people see the artwork, which has been done by Jon Hocking.

Is there a central concept behind the debut?

Brendan; Yes, the central concept is our fascination and way to express ourselves through gore, death, zombies and world extinction.

Can you give away any details as to what we can expect from the new album?

Brendan; Just 3 words, EPIC, BRUTAL, EVIL.

In general, what do you personally find you are releasing and expressing through your music?

Brendan; For all of us it’s an escape and release from our everyday lives and chasing a dream.

What conceptual ideas, and influences; be it politics, history, literature, hate, et cetera – if at all – creep into the musical motifs and lyrical ideals of Tortured?

Brendan; We try to steer away from religion, politics, etc as there is enough of that in music, hopefully people will read our lyrics and find them either vulgar, fascinating, or relating to them without bringing stuff like that into it, everyone already has there own problems, why would they want to read and sing along to ours?
 
Late last year, you had the addition of Dutch on skins, how has been the writing process with a new member?

Brendan; The writing process has been excellent now with Dutch in the fold. Dutch is very easy to collaborate with, and is always coming up with fresh ideas. Dutch has bought a new meaning to Tortured. He has made the band a lot tighter, and brings a new level of brutality into the mix.

How does Tortured write its music: do you create alone, and then present to each other, or is there a central member who takes most of the direction of the band etc?

Brendan; Marcus writes the riffs, Dutch puts drums to the riffs and they work out the structure. I will come with some input to the structure and am the main lyrics writer.
 
Do the lyrics on the new record come from a fictional place or reality?

Brendan; Fictionally but with an essence of reality.

‘Endless Brutality’ is a track that is not only relentlessly forceful, but it has an undertow of beautiful, melancholy melody with a fantastic interlude. Can we expect more of this direction with ‘A Lesson In Holocaust’?

Brendan; Essentially the same brutality, more of an epic scale but still keeping the melodic side of things.

What themes will be presented through the album art in general?

Brendan; Jon Hocking is doing the artwork for us; the main idea of the artwork is a zombified world. The artwork will be all hand drawn by John and he has invested a lot of time into it.

Who is handling the recording duties?

Brendan; Scott Carter (Aeon of Horus, Templestowe) of Dark Corpse Studios.

Will you be doing a national tour behind the release?

Brendan; Hopefully yes. We are working on dates already.

Have any plans been made or considered with regards to taking Tortured to a live international audience?

Brendan; Yes, we would love to, but we need to take it one step at a time and the Australia audience is our main focus at the moment.

You’ve recently played your last couple of shows before going into hibernation, how were they?

Brendan; The shows were good, we got to share the stage with bands like The Day Everything Became Nothing, Humonic, Templestowe (final show ever), Infinitum, Elysian, New Blood and Hellbringer (formally Forgery). We brought forth some new friendships, which is always fun.

The band is noted to be very tight onstage, despite the technicality of the music. How far will you push this with the new album?

Brendan; To the next level. We are more professional as a band now and work exceptionally well together as a live unit.

What have been some of the reactions to your live performances? The worst and the best?

Brendan; People seem enjoy our music live and take something away with them when they see us. Our stage presence and our confidence has improved on stage and off. But on some occasions in the past we have had a crowd that is not suited to our music.

People should be prepared for a new level of stage presence and theatrical performance from us to complement our new musicality, epicness [sic] and brutality.

Still being a relatively young act, you’ve acquired a strong following in the metal scene, any peculiar stories to share from live gigs?

Brendan; Driving to Newcastle and meeting Templestowe up there, they headlined the show, but due to poor organisation Templestowe never got to play at all. The aftermath of this was one to be witnessed.

Apart from the new release, what is in store for Tortured in the future?

Brendan; We see a bright future ahead of us, with hope to have international recognition. We also hope to get signed by the right label, make a good name for Tortured in the metal scene and get to play with some of the bands that we listened to growing up.

Last words?

Brendan; A LESSON IN HOLOCAUST!!! EPIC, BRUTAL, EVIL.

To listen to TORTURED visit their official MySpace page !