One must wonder about Swedish grinders’ Obligatorisk Tortyr’s sense of satisfaction, releasing their follow up to the self-titled debut album on Osmose back in 2001 and then this latest effort, to only finally seeing the light of day in late 2007. I can just imagine those guys being happier than a pig in shit, partying and sniffing those new royalty copies all day long in their living room the day they got picked up from the post office. Two releases in ten years, is that some kind of record for sittin’ on the pot in terms of grindcore bands? All I know is that these guys must have made a poopy when their efforts to see this thing released were finally realized.

The bands’ debut is not something I have ever heard before, so whether or not Obligatorisk Tortyr has stayed true to their initial influences or whether they have matured from the days of being the worst band ever before this release on Power It Up is beyond me. What you have here are some fairly generic contemporary grindcore with some fairly steady references to death metal and hardcore. It seems that original members Jens Kjerrström and Viktor Helge, the two rabid hillbillies in shitkickers and overalls I’ll bet, who spend most of their time trading off vocal duties while punishing the guitar and bass respectively. It would seem that these two fellas, the Obligatorisk Tortyr brain trust, somehow lost original gangster drummer Fredrik Helgessen in 2002 and only added Stefan Karlsson behind the kit as recently as 2006. I hope Helgessen is alright and didn’t get all his teeth knocked out with a blackjack or something…learning a bit of the band bio helps me to understand the unusual lag between releases.

Sadly, this is a case when a three piece fails to drop the hammer. I can hear every riff on this just a little too clearly. I know that fans of Joe Satriani and Dream Theatre think that’s a good thing, but for those of us who enjoy heavy metal, it’s really not that spectacular a feat. Anyone who wants their shitty bar chords “understood” by their audience is likely hoping to end up being played “unplugged” or something, which is about the stupidest thought I’ve had all day long. It could be that the guitar is just a tad too loud in this mix, but the larger problem here is that it is that this album is just too clean and sanitized for it to end up being any real sort of head-turner. ObligatoriskTortyr are in dire need of a second guitar player to add a fucking heavy, ragged weapon capable of taking chunks out of your speaker before spitting them in your face and then extinguishing a cigarette butt on your face using a jack boot. Where is the fucking power, guys? This is weak and fuzzy as fuck.

If these guys think that they are even close to wearing the big boy pants on behalf of Sweden, they have to be joking. The only pants they know about have a milky and brown tinged residue inside lacking down each pant leg. It’s a foul residue that doesn’t smell that great and makes everyone around call you a damned reeking asshole and a savage. I’m passing on this altogether and so should you. This is fucking amateur hour at its most forgettable.

Review bySoiled Depends