Tor Marrock - The Concept of Self

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"The Concept of Self" marks the third album from TOR MARROCK, via Black Vulture Records. Released on Dec 13th, 2018, "The Concept of Self" delivers doom, gloom, death, gothic and dark metal. Formed in 2004, and hailing from Wales, TOR MARROCK is best suited for fans of OBITUARY, (old)PARADISE LOST, MY DYING BRIDE, (old) THEATER OF TRAGEDY and (old)TIAMAT. Prepare yourself for a necromantic journey of vampiric lust and a deep passion for the dark.

I will begin with the shining moment from "The Concept of Self", "Let's make love in the dark." The track has a doomy guitar intro that is accompanied by a seductive female voice speaking softly. As the track progresses it becomes an epic anthem for anti-hallmark, missionary style, vanilla folks. The lead guitar fills are melodic and powerful, while the light keys orchestrate an anthem for blood ritual and sex magic.

As I back up to "Sacrifice the Flesh", the intro has an ANNIHILATOR type of guitar tone while the vocals are eerily similar to Chuck Schuldiner of DEATH(rest his soul). The verses are filled with OBITUARY style grooves. Nice, heavy, easily digestible and headbangable. The pre-chorus builds to climax with excellent execution. Meaningful and soulful guitar solos are blended excellently as they capture the atmosphere of the song.

"The Dark in your Eyes" begins with a sound straight off of PARADISE LOST's classic "Draconian Times". The track offers an almost clean vocal part that is filtered through a gentle rasp that hints at a death growl. The whispered and spoken words done by both female and male create that "gothic" feel but given the heaviness, and doom like tempo TOR MARROCK makes all that is dark and painful deviantly beautiful rather than mall goth, Hot Topic, cheesy.

"A Concept of Self" is catchy for extreme metal. Its highly memorable and definitely crosses the boundary of listening to it and feeling it. TOR MARROCK has created a soundtrack for an environment that is dim lit, passionately sinister, and masochistic. "The Concept of Self" is well served to a tongue that is craving the taste of wickedly haunting metal.

Songwriting: 10
Originality: 8
Memorability: 10
Production: 8