Genocide Pact

Order of Torment

BY Brayden TurennePublished Jan 30, 2018

7
With Order of Torment, Genocide Pact provide an aural march to global war. Thick, chugging riffs take on the thrum of engines, as the rhythm section embodies vicious gun discharges and the stomping advance of legions. Taking after groups like Gatecreeper, with a vision of death metal less focused on speed or technicality than it is with pure weight and impact.
 
The band seem to bask in the raw heaviness of their guitar tone, letting it slow to a meandering pace approaching doom on a song like "Decimation Grid." But along with that gut-crushing simplicity, Genocide Pact make sure to keep things interesting, as the slow trudge through mud is suddenly turned frantic by the violence of gunfire, and the listener is thrust into a full speed onslaught. It's this ebb and flow that keeps Order of Torment on the move throughout, and even helps make the speed seem more impactful when it does hit.
 
Aside from the overall brutality, "Spawn Of Suffering" lays down some unexpected drum flourishes that give it a particular vitality, and "Pain Reprisal" explodes in a glorious ode to Cannibal Corpse's "Hammer Smashed Face." Order of Torment is a dynamic, albeit simple slab of furious death metal with a heaviness that will debilitate as much as adrenalize you.
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