Tortured Demon - Plymouth Review

Local music venues should never be taken for granted. Whilst Plymouth is crying out for a more diverse range of such, particularly one that can hold between 1,000 and 2,000 people, there remain some excellent venues in the city - and The Junction on Mutley Plain is one of them. The glorified pub has been the city's de facto alternative music venue for a number of years at this point - and what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in character. Since I moved to the city a number of years ago I have been to The Junction many times. In truth, I should have made more effort over the years - but I still get there a few times a year, and a night out there never disappoints. For its size, too, it sometimes punches above its weight. I have seen Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, Blaze Bayley, Diamond Head, and Inglorious pack the place out over the years - and missed shows by FM and Ginger Wildheart due to clashes. It is not that often that the venue books a band of such repute, though, with most of the acts filling its bills being a mix of local bands, lesser known acts, or those who strive for bigger things. I saw the Brazilian death metal four-piece Crypta lay waste to the venue back in June, and I imagine that they will be playing in larger rooms when they next return to the UK, but my latest trip up the road to The Junction came last night - when I made the short walk to catch the Manchester-based four-piece Tortured Demon bring their biggest UK tour yet to the city. In truth, I had not heard of Tortured Demon until their show in Plymouth was announced a few months back. I often check out the bands that The Junction put on so that I do not miss out on anything worth seeing, and a quick Youtube convinced me that I should pick up a ticket for the show. Given that they were only a tenner, buying one seemed like a no-brainer - and I also soon picked up both of the band's self-released albums, 2021's In Desperation's Grip and 2023's Rise of the Lifeless. As such, I have been listening to both albums quite a lot over the past few months - with the latter in particular impressing. The band describe themselves as thrashcore, which is a pretty accurate description of their sound. To my ears, they sound like a thrashier version of Trivium's first two albums - with less of a focus on clean vocals. There are certainly strong influences from the early days of the mid-2000s metalcore scene, but thrash is very much the main focus - albeit with harsh vocals and some occasional guitar melodies which would not sound out of place on a melodic death metal album. It is the sort of music which I was sure would come across really well live - and the band have already started winning plaudits for their live shows, having played Bloodstock Open Air twice to date as well as supporting some other more established bands.

Given that the show took place on a Sunday, I was not sure what the turnout would be like. I had hoped that it would be healthy, given the distance the band had travelled, so when I got to venue not too long after it opened I was pleased to see a good-sized crowd. I have seen the venue fuller, but for a young, unsigned band's first trip to the city I imagine that they would have been pleased with the turnout - and it helped that two local bands opened the show. Up first were the quirky Death Assault - a band that came across as a bit of a work in progress and one not wholly committed to the vibe being set. Both the frontman and the drummer wore similar outfits, with battered old gasmasks, whilst the other three dressed more traditionally - with one guy wearing camo combat trousers and a matching hat. As such, the overall vibe was confused. If the band are going to go for an image then really they should co-ordinate things a bit better - as it was strange seeing one guy with knee-high boots and tight trousers next to another guy with face paint and a gasmask. These things often work themselves out over time, but Death Assault made a strange impression as a result. Sound-wise, though, the band were less varied - with a groove/death metal-adjacent sound which mixed thrashy and metalcore influences with chunky riffs and growled vocals. There were some pretty decent riffs scattered throughout the band's set, but I did not feel that many of the songs really stuck. The vocal melodies were not all that memorable in my view and I would have enjoyed more guitar leads, too. There were some interesting lead guitar moments, as well as a few more atmospheric sections with clean guitars beneath the riffs, but overall the set was somewhat one-note. A new self-titled track was played, though, which did change things up somewhat - going for quite a discordant approach early on and more of a focus on grooves later on. This did shake the set up for a while, but overall I did not think that Death Assault were really for me. Quite a few in the crowd seemed to be fans, though, which was great to see - and there was plenty of moshing and energy from the off. Death Assault kicked off the night well in that regard, then, even if they were not my thing.

Mechanized were much more my thing, though. Despite having a make-shift line-up with frontman Andy George also having to play bass and a stand-in guitarist, the thrash/death metal act really lit up the venue from the word go - and I was impressed as their set progressed. Having looked at the band's profile on Metal Archives, Mechanised are made up of members from long-lost Plymouth metal bands past such as Huron and Sekhmet - so they are an experienced bunch. I recognised the stand-in guitarist from back in the day, too, although I cannot remember his name - and Mechanized seem to be the result of musicians not giving up on their dreams. Despite the make-shift line-up, then, Mechanized were great. It perhaps took me a couple of songs to fully warm to them, but George was such an affable frontman that it was hard not to get swept along, and the riffing was so sharp that each successive song seemed better than the last. Tight drumming, thrashy riffs, screaming solos, roaring vocals, and the odd groovier section made sure that all the thrash and death metal boxes were ticked - and the songs generally seemed hookier than Death Assault's had been. This was generally thanks to the riffs, which were fast-paced and hooky in the way that all the best thrash is - but there were also some decent vocal-led sections, too. George has a powerful voice and he rose above the riffing nicely - although I think it was the guitar playing which impressed me the most. The energy levels had been high during Death Assault's set and they remained high as Mechanized progressed with their riffing. There was plenty more moshing and headbanging as the set moved forward - but perhaps the real magic was left towards the end. A riotous cover of Power Trip's thrash anthem Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe) really got the crowd going towards the end, with Tortured Demon's frontman Jacob Parkinson down at the front headbanging with the crowd (although he wisely side-stepped the mosh pit), but it was the closing track Out of the Womb, into the Tomb which really impressed. I had been enjoying the band's set up to that point, but the closing number was on another level - and it was the sort of song that after hearing it once it was already stuck in the brain. I have been singing the chorus all day today and it could have been the overall highlight of the night. It is a shame that Mechanized do not yet have an album out, or even an EP, but there are some songs floating around online - so hopefully one day there will be a release to check out properly.

The main event, though, was Tortured Demon's set - and for an hour or so the band ripped through an 11-song set which covered both of their albums and also saw a newly released single getting some airtime. Having clearly not worn themselves out during the two support acts' sets, the crowd were very much up for Tortured Demon - and the band seemed a bit shocked by the amount of moshing and headbanging at times. The crowd were so riotous down at the front that monitors and microphone stands got knocked over more than once - but the band just took it in their stride and showcased why they should be considered as one of the UK's real rising stars in the metal scene. Most of Rise of the Lifeless was featured in the set and, following the album's intro track playing over the PA as the band took to the stage, its title track kicked things off nicely. The sharp riffing of Jacob and fellow guitarist Rory Marsland-Smith was powerful, even the former was a bit low in the mix at times, whilst Joe Parkinson was busy behind his large drum kit. Marsland-Smith and Luke Entwistle (bass guitar/vocals) joined the band earlier this year so the current Tortured Demon line-up is a rather new-look one. Entwistle added lots of deep growls throughout the set to counter Jacob's leading screams - whilst the lead guitar intro of Virtual Death and the techy riffing of The Invasion was like water off a duck's back for Marsland-Smith. Sadly Jacob's lead guitar moments on the older tracks were somewhat buried in the mix, but that is live music, and his vocals were always clear with the snappy Conflict of Interest and the anthemic In Desperation's Grip bringing the best out of him as a singer. He took a few moments to talk with the crowd, too, and generally this took the form of him being pleased with the energy levels in the room. The moshing never really let up and it was clear that the band had not expected such intense energy levels on a Sunday in Plymouth. Hopefully the memories will bring the band back in the future - and the future looks bright with new single Nothing Left to Say, the first release from the current line-up. The big chorus already feels at home in the Tortured Demon canon - and it was followed up by the lengthy The Damage Is Done, which featured a more dynamic arrangement including some clean guitar moments and another strong chorus. By this time, though, there was not time for that much more. I am sure that the crowd would have kept going for a while longer - but a rousing Global Threat saw plenty of singing before the night came to a close with another knotty old-school metalcore anthem in A Knee to the Face of Corruption. The moshing continued on until the end, too, so the atmosphere never let up. I am sure that the band will play in some more regularly-visited places on this tour - but I am not sure that the energy of Plymouth will easily be matched elsewhere. The setlist was:

An Empire Condemned

Rise of the Lifeless

Virtual Death

The Invasion

Conflict of Interest

Disfavour

In Desperation's Grip

Nothing Left to Say

The Damage Is Done

Erase Your Life

Global Threat

A Knee to the Face of Corruption

Given that I had not heard of the band until the show was announced, I am pleased that The Junction hosted Tortured Demon last night. I have been enjoying getting into the band over the past few months and they are a certainly one with the potential to have a strong future. The new single hints at what the current line-up can do writing-wise, and I am looking forward to what follows both in terms of the band's next album and their live plans.