Torrefy - Life Is Bad

Thrash has seemed be a bit one sided these days. Usually one will take the formula developed by Slayer, Exodus, or Metallica and expand upon it in their own way but still sound like copycats. The 35 or so minute albums of speed thrash riffs with snarly vocals are dime a dozen, so when a group like Torrefy comes along they need to step things up. Their debut album back in 2015 received ‘ok’ reviews but when faced with groups like Melechesh who take the thrash formula to a whole new level with their added black metal influences, it tended to pale in comparison. Thankfully, this Canadian group have upped their game on their more recent outputs, and “Life Is Bad” is certainly a great thrasher of an album while expanding on something that thrash seems to have left behind in the late 8os- epicness. When looking at great albums like “…And Justice For All” and “The Atrocity Of Exhibition” albums, despite good or bad discussions, one thing that stood out was some of the more grandiose pieces like. Torrefy have taken this album formula to heart and added their own dose of thrash to give epic thrash a whole new level that should be much appreciated.

‘Sarcophony’ blasts out the gate with a more typical thrash sound that will appeal to fans of Exodus mixed with some Legion of the Damned in there. One thing Torrefy really have going for them is their rhythm style. Lots of guitar melodies in there and even some vocal layering that feels more death metal than just average thrash, and the pace is a pretty even fast to mid paced to fast before breaking for an elongated solo here and there. Unlike some of their predecessors, there are some pretty rare soft moments on any part of this album so fans who like their music to ‘never let up’ will appreciate it. Even tracks like ‘Arborequiem’ with the elongated solos that hold a lot more melody vs the faster, chuggier moments of the track, doesn’t feel in any way soft despite its rather doomy tone. Other tracks like ‘Cells’ have no drawn-out parts at all and just churn right through, adhering to more typical speed thrash and also showing how Torrefy can keep up a fast pace for a longer period of time.

Lyrically, the album is more of a social criticism on culture and life in a somewhat poetic fashion. Thrash has pretty much been about ‘tearing down degrading culture’ in the way that black metal is known to ‘hail satan.’ Tracks like ‘Eye Of The Swarm’ are more alluding versus ‘The Thin Red Line’ is straightforward and grim, more in the vein of how death metal lyrics would approach. Then there are biting tracks like ‘GFYD’ which just attack outright without any subtlety with the message ‘go fuck yourself and die.’ This one isn’t one of the best tracks on the album, but it is the closest thing to speed thrash that one will probably get with a bit of punk thrown in. ‘Torn Apart by Machinery’ does a much better job at showing a thoughtful thrash piece both lyrically and musically. It is fast with excellent guitar riffs while not being too much of a speed freak that listeners might miss out on it.

Closing with ‘Plague Of Empires,’ “Life Is Bad” hammers listeners with a final social criticism and more rounded shorter thrash attack. Listeners will have been in for quite a ride. Looking back on the album as a whole, fans will see a lot of similarities between this album and the previous one, “The Infinity Complex.” The epicness is there but some of the riff styles feel a little recycled. At least on “Life Is Bad” Torrefy downplayed the epic length touches a little bit but did not regress altogether to their debut while keeping things fast and as fresh as they could. One could say there is a little of both albums present here. New fans will definitely enjoy this album if they want to find some thrash metal that has something to say without saying it too quickly, and the musical depths and limits of some of the longer tracks are worth hearing to show that some thrash bands don’t have to play the same few riffs for three minutes just to get a good song together. “Life Is Bad” goes to show that thrash isn’t so bad when done right to lengthier proportions.

4 / 5 STARS 

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1. Sarcophony
2. Eye Of The Swarm
3. Outrun By Wolves
4. GFYD
5. Arborequiem
6. The Thin Line
7. Cells
8. Torn Apart By Machinery
9. Plague Of Empires


Self released
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jun 10, 2020

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