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JOHAN | 2007-01-17 >>>
 TÖRR
"Armageddon"
LP (1990 Multisonic)
Somehow puzzled Törr debut
Törr was definitely at the
end of 80s the best Czech extreme metal band. Their first demo "Witchhammer"
(1987) was quickly spread among the fans and their popularity was
growing very fast. The line up was Ota Hereš, Vlasta Henych and Milan
Háva. The shows were sold out, fan club was working perfectly,
moreover Vlasta Henych organized the Death Metal Sessions in 1988. In
the same year the band accepted a second guitarist, Dan Šakal Švarc
from Fata Morgana (this band was at that time officially forbidden).
But shortly he left back to continue with Fata Morgana under the name
F.A.T. The drummer, Háva also left Törr and the new drummer is Martin
Melmuka called Melmus from Debustrol. Švarc joined Törr again in 1989,
while Ota must left to go to army. In February 1990 Törr recorded
their second demo "Masturbace mozku", which in fact contains most of
Törr debut LP "Armageddon", recorded between 17. 2. and 4. 3. 1990.
The intro called "Chrám smrti" is composed by Ota Baláž and it really
evokes the correct atmosphere. "Žal" is the new song written in the
spirit of Törr older stuff. Sung by two vocalist, Henych and Švarc, it
belongs among the best ever songs. Melmus was in that time very
skilful musician, Dan was famous thanx to his guitar solos and Henych´s
vocals were unmistakable. I have never liked "Vrať se ke psům" and I
still do not like it today, especially the fans shoutin artificially
mixed at the end of the track. "Smlouva s peklem" is originally a Fata
Morgana song (they played it under the title "Memento"), Šakal brought
it to Törr from this home band. And it is one of the best ones, I
always liked Dan´s morbid vocals, the song is pretty dark and its text
is also very fine. "Samota" is the first old song, which appeared
already on the "Witchhammer" demo. After the slow beginning starts a
really fast song with very depressive lyrics and often repeated chorus
„Umírej, umírej...“ („Die, die...“), one should not miss the guitar
solo. "Král mor" is another song I subjectively do not like, in a way
it is very similar to F.A.T. demo "Ústavní spalovna". The lyrics are
very naturalistic and music offers hard rock´n´roll... The B-side is
opened by some boring disco hit, stopped by the words „To je hovno,
znova“ („What a shit! Again!“) and "Lady Madeline" with its horror
lyrics starts. The old times are again represented by "Zlej sen",
again with Henych´s vocals. That´s what I like. The following track
comes originally again from Fata Morgana, there entitled
"Čarodějnice", here named "Posedlá". The theme is rather naive and
musically definitely not above the average. And "Padlý chtíč" is deep
deep under the average. Stupid groaning, puberally vulgrar lyrics, not
very invenitve guitar, simple rythm - no doubt, the worst song on this
album. Intro to the song "Armageddon", perhaps again by Baláž,
interesting mix of keyboards and war noises. Then, when the song is
about to begin, it suddenly stops, the toiled flushes and the record
is over... I cannot say anything else than - what an idiotic idea?
This sing was intended to be released on a single, but it never
happened. The debut thus seems somehow puzzled. Old good Witchhammer
songs, new pretty good ones ("Žal", "Smlouva s peklem", "Král mor"),
and some really useless ones ("Posedlá", "Padlý chtíč", "Vrať se ke
psům", only the intro of "Armageddon"…). Really shame that the album
does not contain "Melodie poslední", another song by Fata Morgana,
recorded by Törr 1990 demo and one of the best… And the reason why the
album does not contain Törr all time greatest hit "Kladivo na
čarodějnice"? Maybe because it was released on a 7inch earlier…
The cover is extraordinary perfect. Štorm´s photos from Sedlec ossuary
look still very fresh, the only weak details are the white sneakers
which musicians wear… Also I missed the original Törr logo on the
front side. While the back side has no weak details…
Strange thing, there isn´t named the studie where the album was
recorded. Produced by Dodo and the band. However the sound is pretty
good, all the instruments sound as they have to. Only the guitar -
when plays solos, it is perfect, but when plays riffs, it is somehow
undertoned. Today it is difficult to guess whether it was a purpose or
some defect.
"Armageddon" was the second extreme album in Czech metal history (the
first one was Assesor "Invaze"). It´s a big shame that there haven´t
been better circumstances one year earlier. The "Witchhammer" would be
much much better debut. |
