Blackened Symphonic Death Metal is quite a mouthful – would you not agree?  Torn from Existence hail from Colorado and have been around a few years and Hearken the Darkened Skies is their debut album.

Hopefully, the band is getting this debut out to distros, labels etc..so this Self-Released album can be picked up by a label?  That’s of course if the band wants to go that route.  Sometimes bands prefer, if they are only a part-time gig, to finance and control their own music.  Regardless of that fact this five-piece act consisting of David Couch on guitar, Rhiannon Wisniewski – keyboards, Bill Bohlen on bass, Craig Rosplock – vox, and Jeremiah Maynard on drums really bring their own style to this metal sub-genre.

I like that the band has streamlined songs and with an average song length of like four-and-a-half minutes, this seven-song debut has no time to waste when they rip into album opener “Crawl from the Crypt”.  Rhiannon’s keyboards add a mystical charm in the beginning before the bludgeoning music erupts with Craig laying out his raspy black metal vocals.  The drums pound and the blasting sounds really good alongside the guitars.  The song is very catchy especially with how the keyboards are kind of played, like a rhythm guitar in some respects.  They are prominent and really add to the style, rhythmically speaking.  Bill’s bass guitar is in there, sometimes it gets a bit buried, though.  The spoken anguished vocals around the 3.30 mark are excellent.  Right after these moments David adds some well-placed pinch harmonics then right into terrific guitar solos.  The double bass drums, over these sections, bring forth a classic metal flair to the sound.  Craig also adds some deeper death metal grunts in and around this track, which of course this guy very much appreciates.

“Sorcery Against Mankind” blasts out of the starting gates immediately.  This sucker smokes and the isolated guitar riffing going on in the beginning is excellent.  The song gets into an excellent death metal gallop with Craig alternating between his death and black metal vocals.  The tones are great and gives the appearance of two separate singers.  Excellent!  The galloping moments remind me of early Skeletonwitch.  David throws in some more pinch harmonics, which will slice and dice you from ear to ear.  Towards the end of the song, over the blasting are some eerie, what sounds to me, female ethereal vocals.  They are great and then Craig comes in with his black metal vocals then goes right into death metal vocals.  The keyboards continue to add an epic quality to the song.

My favorite song is “Tempted by the Necromancer”, which ends the album.  The opening with the guitar riff, drum rolls, and keyboard tones are so flippin’ catchy you will be putting on your cloaked robe, doing septagram two-stepping dances all damn day!!  The rhythm section, of all the instruments over the blasting, is tight AF. I Love the slow down at the three-minute mark with the guitar soloing and then David rips into a plethora of more guitar solos and then back into the catchy sounds, just like the beginning.  Terrific album closer.  This folks is how you end an album!  Not some boring ass slow crappy filler track.  You start intense and end intense!! FTW!!!

One of the things underground metal fans enjoy is the artwork and presentation of physical releases.  The album art is striking with the blue color palette and the coven worshipping the septagram.  Silvana Massa was responsible for the artwork and Christopher Horst crafted the killer band logo.  The CD booklet contains lyrics and a group photo.  The layout, courtesy of keyboardist Rhiannon Wisniewski, is rather fantastic, with the album cover colors, and septagram symbols all interwoven throughout the booklet.  So we get the fantastic look and feel of the CD and packaging to pair nicely with the excellent music.

If you like bands such as early Skeletonwitch, Seven Spires, Journey into Darkness and your brutality mixed in with mystical ethereal ambiance you must give Torn From Existence a chance.  This is a well-produced album, well-played and well-written to boot.  Hearken the Darkened Skies is a memorable and kick-ass debut album!!

[Visit the band's website]

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