With a name fitting for their abrasive songwriting style, meet Torment, a beatdown hardcore band from Richmond, Virginia.
Like so many other musical groups featured on No Echo, Torment's brief history was affected by the COVID pandemic. "In around 2017, me and former member, David formed Torment from the remnants of older bands we were in," said Torment vocalist Marcy via email.
"We had a demo in 2018, our first EP in 2019, then things fell apart for the band. A few months later, the pandemic happened and during lockdown, I just kept writing songs, all of which sounded consistent with the self-titled EP, so we had the idea of getting back together whenever shows could happen again."
Marcy picked up the story: "In 2021, we played our first show. We just kept playing as many shows as we could since, had some lineup changes here and there. Safe to say that while lockdown ended some bands, it ended up saving ours in a way [laughs]."
Torment's latest release is a 6-tracker called Misery Bleeds: "The EP picks up where the self-titled EP left off, but with a much heavier take on our sound. It's also our first release with the current lineup of Torment—Eve, our guitarist, having a hand in writing too.
"Most of the songs were written during that lockdown period, except two: '48 Hours,' which was written a little after the self-titled EP came out, and 'Suffer For Redemption,' which was written by Eve before we started recording. Speaking of recording, we wanted to go for a more muddier, dirtier and more raw production, to match that overall dark atmosphere we go for."
Marcy broke Torment's stylistic vision for No Echo: "The short answer for that would be beatdown, heavy hardcore, whatever you wanna call it. Thematically we have a darker, horror vibe. Our main influences are Hatebreed, Terror Ave, Neglect, One Second Thought, Denied, Sworn Enemy, NJ Bloodline, Swear to God, Internal Bleeding, and Sepultura, to name a few.
"Listing off all of them would take a while, so here's a FFO playlist I made not too long ago."
Now that they have new music out, Torment plans on getting busy on the road soon. On a local level, here are some Richmond, Virginia bands Marcy thinks No Echo readers will dig:
"Restrictor Plate, Wasted Space, Infernal Gaze, Dimension Six, Vigil, Earth to Heaven, Cunt Puncher, ROTWL, Eradicant, Blazing Tomb, Mutually Assured Destruction, Division of Mind, Killing Pace, Downfall, Ulamog, I could keep going... Richmond's a great spot for hardcore. Always has been, and always will be.
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Torment on social media: Instagram | Bandcamp
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