Metal Underground.com

Hymn For The Tortured never got signed and didn’t made it very far as a band, but they put out some solid black metal with heavy death metal undertones before finally calling it quits. Born from an earlier deathcore style band called Tom Selleck’s Sushi Palace, they shifted into Hymn For The Tortured as an outlet for their increasingly darker and more serious musical tastes. “Every Night’s Another Horror” was the final offering from the band before the members went their separate ways, and it’s a fitting send off as the blend of black and death they created ranks up there with some of the better underground acts.

Even though the band cited The Black Dahlia Murder as their biggest influence, with the name of the band even being a corruption of a song title from them, they really sound a whole lot more like the earliest work of the UK black metal band Hecate Enthroned. If it weren’t for the lower death metal growls, the title track could easily be mistaken for a lost song from Hecate Enthroned’s “Upon Promeathean Shores (Unscriptured Waters)” that never actually made it on the EP. Both bands have a proclivity for starting with a harsh gothic whisper, immediately throwing in a growling vocal as soon as the whisper dies away, and then starting over again with the next set of lyrics. The main difference between the two groups is that Hymn For The Tortured frequently mixes in lower death grunts that aren’t traditionally heard on black metal albums.

Most of the songs are guitar and vocal driven, with the keyboards only making token appearances or staying low in the background for atmosphere. “A Grim Sorrow Sonata” is the one chance for the keyboardist to really shine and bring the music more towards symphonic black metal territory. The track evokes the feeling of its name well, coming off more like a gloomy and bleak instrumental song that happens to also have growling vocals instead of a black metal track with keyboards.

With titles like “The Twilight of the Dark Master” and “Every Night’s Another Horror” it’s obvious what sort of lyrical themes can be expected from the EP. Black metal fans who want strong feelings of horror and evil from their music will get what they are looking for, even if the band members aren’t actually wearing corpse paint or sacrificing goats in the studio. The lack of superficial pageantry works in their favor, as the album seems more like its coming from the heart instead of being crafted to fit a preconceived style.

The production throughout the EP is a little muted, which is to be expected from a more home-brewed black metal release. It turns out a lot better than it could have been, as all of the instruments can be heard, even if they are just a little subdued and muffled. The production gets noticeably worse on last two tracks, however, as they are lifted directly from earlier demos.

“Every Night’s Another Horror” isn’t a groundbreaking or mind blowing black metal release, but it gets the job done more than adequately. Fans of the early Hecate Enthroned sound or anyone who likes death growls in their evil black metal should get enough out of the EP to warrant picking it up.