TORTURERS' LOBBY - DEADENED NERVES LP

IXP157

Hailing from Tampa, TORTURERS' LOBBY began as a three-piece band with Tim Anderson on drums, Ryan Conway on bass, and Evan Dawson, on guitar/vocals. After the Again debut demo in 2021, Adam Shaw joined as a dedicated vocalist. With this lineup, the band recorded the Crisis of Faith Rehearsal, which was released later in 2021. The following year, the 7" EP Man in Zwugzang was released, and Anderson left the band after the subsequent Kinetic Disapproval rehearsal, which featured some early versions of songs that would be on TORTURERS' LOBBY's eventual debut album, Deadened Nerves. Dwane Nihiser replaced him, and that debut album is the first release with him playing drums. 

Now at last here and their lineup firm, Deadened Nerves announces TORTURERS' LOBBY's arrival with devastating punctuation. A metal record for metal people, the band's first full-length doesn't kowtow to genre conventions - death metal, black metal, thrash, and even juiced-up traditional metal all get diced and sliced into their cranky cauldron - nor does it get overly "clever" and pay lazy lip service to a please-everybody middle ground. No, TORTURERS' LOBBY simply go for the throat quickly and without compunction, rushing forth with an urgency of approach and physicality that's tangible - truly, this is a whole band playing together instead of punched-in parts - but soon twist the knife in myriad ways. And that's perhaps the trump card of Deadened Nerves: violent and off the rails it might often be, but there's a diabolic logic to the angular shapes TORTURERS' LOBBY throw, a strive to elevate songwriting to something at once palpitating and mind-bending, careening and in control. RIFFS are aplenty, and the production's thick and scuzzy yet fully pro, and Shaw's vocals keep apace with acerbic annunciation.

"Truly, we just wanted to create unique music we haven't heard, yet want to listen to," state the band. "It's very difficult to nail down what we play, and we like it that way. We worship no specific style, as the greats have already done it, so there is no sense in recreating some watered-down parody of it. We just wanted to be different and pursue something new, a different direction in violent 'underground' music. We have jokingly referred to our sound as 'Florida shitkicker.'"

Still, there's no joking around on Deadened Nerves. The lyrics match the severity of its music, focusing on actual events and societal ails. "We do not write silly songs about juvenile notions of 'evil,' the 'occult,' or fictitious gore," the band continue. "We strive to turn humanity to face its grotesque reflection and reconcile with its own evil and misguided obsession with cruelty, morbidity, and lack of independent thought. This is a real reflection of the decaying world around us, though we are not seeking to advocate for it."

Nasty, authentically underground, but not bogged down by too-cool borders, TORTURERS' LOBBY shitkick past, present, and future with Deadened Nerves.

Adam Shaw - Vocals
Dwane Nihiser - Battery
Ryan Conway - Bass
Evan Dawson - Electric / Acoustic Guitars / Synthesizer

https://caligarirecords.bandcamp.com/album/deadened-nerves