Artist: Torment Imagery
Country: Indonesia
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Demo
Year: 2025
Torment Imagery’s Bandcamp page shows me a photo of one person and states that the band is Indonesian. Beyond that, there is nothing else to be found about this mysterious newcomer. Musically speaking, those who prefer their Black Metal to be as gritty as the cover art chosen for this first demo will be well satisfied.
In just under twelve minutes, Torment Imagery treats us with some of the most haunting Black Metal I’ve heard in a while. This reminds me of the glory days of the Skjold label from Denmark, who had an impeccable nose for anything that sounded utterly harsh and downright hallucinating. Torment Imagery fits seamlessly in that tradition, where each individual instrument seems to drown in the other, so that the result resembles a resonant noise. However, if you prick up your ears and close your eyes, you can hear the sonic texture. Then suddenly the dizzying depth and the hallucinatory, almost delirious profundity reveal itself. Although strictly different in their approach of the Raw Black Metal formula, the result is almost the same as with those early Candelabrum demos or even pre-album Black Cilice. The repetitiveness and the utter bleak atmosphere is something that sucks you up and even if the full ride is about ten minutes (discarding the two minute intro), it feels like you’ve a feverish nightmare. Frankly, this is the sort of music that is hard to translate into mere words, this simply is something you need to experience.
