There’s been no shortage of bands over the years having different songs with shared titles. Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep have songs titled “The Wizard”. Motörhead and Overkill have songs titled “Overkill”, which would only become more confusing when Overkill would go onto cover Motörhead’s song of the same title. Slayer, W.A.S.P., and The Accüsed have songs titled “Show No Mercy” (as you’ll soon read, this isn’t Slayer and W.A.S.P.’s only overlap). I could go on and on. But what if I told you there were no less than 10 different “Tormentor”s? Would you believe it? Well you should, because we’re about to rank the 10 best. Without further ado, here are our Top 10 Metal Songs Titled “Tormentor”.
10. Nocturnal – “Tormentor” (2000)
Kicking off our list is a nasty little neck-snapper, courtesy of Teutonic blackened thrashers, Nocturnal. Stylistically, this “Tormentor” is very much in the vein of two other “Tormentor”s that will appear later on this list, also from Teutonic blackened thrashers, albeit ’80s acts (you could probably guess who already). At just a little over two minutes, Nocturnal’s “Tormentor” storms about with unrelenting fury, channeling the primal unholiness of early Bathory, Sodom, Destruction, and so forth. This, mind you, in an age where these type of devilish bands couldn’t have been more unfashionable (the early ’00s). Mad props to Nocturnal for keeping it fast, heavy, and true!
9. Sauron – “Tormentor” (2004)
Nocturnal weren’t the only band channeling the wicked ways of first wave black metal in the early aughts. So were Sauron! Hailing from the barren wastelands of Detroit Rock City, Michigan, this power trio were sick and tired of the wimpery corrupting the underground, and decided to combat it the only way they could: With face-ripping speed, violent thrash, and pure evil. Sauron’s “Tormentor” is a homage to the thrash of yesteryear, its chorus paying tribute to the likes of Sodom, Kreator, and Slayer (pre-Ozzfest cringe era, mind you). 20+ years since their debut full length onslaught, Sauron are still terrorizing the Midwest today, thrashing entire metropolises upside down with one riff at a time.
8. Gothic Slam – “Tormentor” (1988)
Gothic Slam: The thrash kings of the bargain bin! Seriously, I got this here album, Killer Instinct (1988), back in the good ol’ days (the early ’10s), when none of you dorks cared about metal, for all of maybe $5. Being a young, impressionable kid, I would buy up anything that looked even remotely metal, this album being no exception. I listened to it once, walked away unenthused, and didn’t revisit it again until very recently (the last few months) upon stumbling across their 1989 follow up, Just a Face in the Crowd, also in, you guessed it, a bargain bin. Honestly, for what it is (B-grade Anthrax worship with less memorable riffs), it’s not bad. Sure, the singer can’t hit those Joey Belladonna notes, but man he tries. So for effort alone, Gothic Slam’s “Tormentor” cracks our list at #8.
7. Deathhammer – “Tormentor” (2018)
Similar to Nocturnal and Sauron before them, Deathhammer are another one of those bands permanently stuck in the first wave black metal haze of ’84/’85, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. They’ve been doing Destruction better than Destruction for the better part of 20 years, thanks to their feral, frenzied, diabolical high speed thrashers. “Tormentor” is one such example, initially appearing on past EPs and demos, but fully materializing on their 2018 album, Chained to Hell. It’s in and out, walloping us with all the classic Deathhammer tropes, from ripping solos to ear-piercing shrieks.
6. Infernö – “Tormentor” (1996)
Considering the drama that plagued the Norwegian black metal scene (to put it VERY lightly), could you blame Infernö for throwing it back to a simpler time, before all the cliques and clout and global media coverage and…murder? OK, I’m getting ahead of myself here, but I digress. If Infernö’s debut album, Utter Hell, could speak, it’d say, “Hey guys! Remember the old days when we used to crank up Venom records, get wasted, and have FUN?!” That’s exactly the vibe I pick up from a tasty thrash n’ roller like “Tormentor”. It’s violent, no doubt, but unleashed with a sleazy rock n’ roll edge that’d make Lemmy flip the bird in approval. Don’t forget the joker!
5. Destruction – “Tormentor” (1985)
Alright, now that we’ve covered our fair share of those devout first wave black metal worshippers, it’s time to throw it back to the actual first wave of black metal! Destruction’s “Tormentor” debuted way back in 1984, as the closing cut on their debut demo, Bestial Invasion of Hell. It would be revisited and rerecorded a year later for their debut full length, Infernal Overkill. Even with this being one of the less memorable cuts on the album in comparison to say “Bestial Invasion”, “Invincible Force”, and “Death Trap”, it’s still no slouch, and remains as anthemic and powerful today as it was upon its release 40 years ago. Plus, get a load of those very brief tremolo riffs at the tail end. Talk about being ahead of their time!
4. Tormentor – “Tormentor” (1987)
With each passing year, the collective obsession with the Norwegian black metal scene perplexes me. And before one of you bursts a gasket over that observation, let’s just for a second strip away the aforementioned tabloid and scandal and “lore” that accompanied it. While that scene did produce some incredible bands (look no further than Darkthrone), is there even one who comes close to the originality, character, and sheer brilliance of Tormentor? One listen to their groundbreaking 1987 demo, The 7th Day of Doom, and it’s hard to persuade me to the contrary. The way this band took their love of the NWOBHM, thrash, ’70s prog, and beyond, to create something completely otherworldly, remains untouchable to this day, and in an ideal world, they should top this list. Alas, Tormentor’s “Tormentor” comes in at #4…but still remains better than anything the band frontman Attila Csihar would go onto join would ever release.
3. Kreator – “Tormentor” (1985)
The beautiful thing about metal, and music as a whole, for that matter, is there’s different kinds for different moods. Sometimes you long for the ambitious sonic explorations of Tormentor. Other times, you want a full powered, old school, Teutonic thrashing of earthshaking proportions. Leave it to Kreator circa ’85 to provide the latter. Too young to even sign their first record deal (their parents had to for them), these youngsters gave their own spin on the burgeoning black metal craze with their truly wicked debut, Endless Pain. Little did they know they’d change the course of metal as we know it. Although Kreator would quickly abandon their original black metal sound, instead pioneering what we know today as death metal, there’s no denying that, just like Destruction’s song of the same title, Kreator’s “Tormentor” holds up and kicks serious ass 40 years on.
2. W.A.S.P. – “Tormentor” (1984)
There were a million and one reasons why W.A.S.P. were the perfect scapegoats for Tipper Gore’s PMRC fear campaign. Having a song like “Tormentor”, a full fledged BDSM anthem if there ever was one, did little to help their case. And yet for one Mr. Steven Duren, AKA Blackie Lawless, nothing could’ve appeased him more, in all his meat-throwing, blood-puking, sadomasochistic glory. See, while it’s easy today for anyone under the age of 50 to turn their noses up to W.A.S.P., dismissing them as pure camp, you need to take the era in which W.A.S.P.’s debut was released in into consideration. This was pre-internet, pre-social media, pre-information overload. The line between fact and fiction tended to blur, especially due to many of these bands’ wild offstage antics, so it wasn’t surprising to hear stories about King Diamond living in a haunted castle, Gene Simmons having a cow tongue grafted onto his real one, and Ozzy Osbourne casually eating live animals. The old soul in me wishes we could go back to this youthful naivety, as it’s all part of what made that era of metal so magical, W.A.S.P.’s “Tormentor” included!
- Slayer – “Tormentor” (1983)
Yes, I’m well aware that Show No Mercy is zero reflection of how Slayer would sound for the remainder of their 40+ year career. Yes, it’s essentially Venom meets Priest. So what. The people who always feel the need to start a conversation on Slayer with this observation come off sounding like the biggest posers on the planet, so if you fall into this category, uh, reassess your life. Anyways, back to Slayer’s “Tormentor”…what’s there not to love? A menacing buildup, midtempo NWOBHM-esque banging, Priest/Di’Anno era Maiden licks for days, wild guitar solos, a singalong chorus, those classic Tom Araya shrieks: Am I forgetting anything? I feel like my favorite cut off SNM changes from year to year, with this one ruling the roost on more than one occasion. Where it ranks in the scope of the album right now is hard to say, but on this here list of “Tormentor”s, it’s Slayer’s that takes the cake. “Are you afraid of the night?!”
You got number one right! Hahaha
Do Top 10 for songs called “Run For Your Life”. And Both RIOT songs better be included! Haha