by Derek Norman

I’m just going to get right to it and open this review by saying Stained By Hatred is easily one of my favorite Metal albums from the past year or two.  Like Epic Death’s recent release, I don’t feel like I’m listening to a “local” recording at all.  Torrid Complex (Jack Sorenson – Vocals, Koury Snider – Guitars, Toby Graham – Guitars, Scott Fishell – Bass, Brandon Shairrick – Drums) has released a pristinely-produced beast, loaded top-to-bottom with Southern Metal designed to make your teeth rattle.

I could easily spend a full paragraph talking about each song, so I’ll try to stick with a few highlights from an album made up entirely of highlights.  I had the pleasure of seeing Torrid Complex live and shooting video on the night I received this CD.  The most difficult performance to film was “Bodies In Motion,” because there is no way to listen to this song without banging your head.  Once the CD made its way into my car stereo, I found driving presented the same problem.

My favorite track on Stained By Hatred is “Die Trying.”  This is my new, go-to song whenever I need some stress relief.  The riffs in this song are like your best friend grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you back to sanity, mixed perfectly with the rhythm section to really drive things home.  There have been times when I’ve needed (yes I said NEEDED) to put “Die Trying” on repeat.

I was about to state that “other highlights include…” but I couldn’t do so without just listing the rest of the album. Instead, I’ll close this review by discussing the closing/title track.  “Stained By Hatred,” besides being a killer song, deals with a hot topic in our country today – public misunderstanding of the Confederate Flag’s meaning to southerners.  I suggest after going through the song a few times to bang your head and pound your fist that you give the lyrics a good listen.

The band has already managed to sell out of CD copies, so go find this amazing Metal album online and order it!