I was aware of Tormentor, mostly through the band's eponymous song, which has been covered by Dimmu Borgir and Slugathor (not to be confused with the Kreator song of the same name). Tormentor's influence can be clearly heard in the works of Mayhem and other landmark bands in the black metal genre. Tormentor's music is actually fairly complex, going through a number of musical sections, as opposed to the more simplistic sound of a lot of what black metal became. This is especially true with songs like "Damned Grave", a nearly ten minute long instrumental. And with the much more melodic sound, the band has more in common with Mercyful Fate than with Venom. Sometimes the songs do drag on for a little too long, but by and large, this is a decent release.
One of the primary reasons that Tormentor is well-known, even if their music is not, is the presence of vocalist Attila Csihar. Csihar of course replaced the deceased er, Dead in Mayhem and performs on the band's classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Unfortunately, so much of what made him such a compelling voice on that release is not present here. He has a gruff vocal style, but does not engage in any of the vocal acrobatics or the blood-curdling snarl that he had on the Mayhem release. He is clearly still finding his voice here.
This is one of Tormentor's demos and it is clear that the band was still a work in progress at this point in their career. This is probably not an essential release, with the exception of the song "Tormentor". If interested in checking out Tormentor, I would recommend Anno Domini instead. Not that this one is bad, but it is very rough and raw.
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