Why is a slam band the biggest thing in hardcore?

Investigating Torture's surprising rise to prominence

I was over at my buddy Paiden’s house the other day. He’s 20 years old and serves as my de facto source for what’s hot with the youth. We were shooting the shit about hardcore as we often do, when he suggested something to me. “You know what your next article should be about? There’s this slam band called Torture that everyone is going nuts for.”  

I’d heard Torture in passing on Demolisten a few months prior, and knew they were getting some internet hype, including a high-profile big-up from members of Knocked Loose. I had thought about checking out their newest full length, Enduring Freedom, a few times. Slam only hits me in a certain mood, though, so I never got around to it.  

I couldn’t write Paiden’s article. I had no idea why a one-man slam project-turned-full band was the hottest thing in hardcore. Then last Monday, Violent Treatment spent almost half of their new episode talking about the hardcore scene’s reaction to this new phenomenon. I finally gave Torture a proper listen, and here’s what I can say about it. 

I think there’s a few reasons why this band has captured hardcore’s imagination. The first two are evergreen but don’t fully explain the fascination. The next few give a little more insight into where our scene is at in the current moment and how that could lead to something like this getting a huge pop. 

First and most obviously, Torture is good. Their drummer, who goes by the pseudonym of KK, wrote and recorded the band’s entire output. The music is crafted “drum first”, with lots of focus on complex patterns and fills. It’s also rhythmically interesting, using weird time signatures and grooves in a way that’s been likened to free jazz. 

Torture’s aesthetic presentation also rises above slam’s propensity for edgy poop jokes. The band’s entire existence, including art and presentation, explores the consequences of modern American imperialism. That exploration is both thoughtful and timely, with most of the hardcore community voicing staunch opposition to America’s funding of Palestinian genocide.

This is the type of record you can sink your teeth into and revisit. I’ve periodically flirted with slam throughout my involvement in underground music, and my main complaint is that not much of it has staying power. Enduring Freedom is a record I can see myself revisiting because it’s more than just a dumb joke with ignorant riffs. 

Which leads me to the second reason Torture is blowing up. Every hardcore kid is briefly drawn to slam at some point, because it’s a meme genre full of weirdos and strange lore. Bands have names like Cemetery Rapist and write songs called “Molesting the Decapitated”. Who isn’t at least partially intrigued by that? 

The idea is funny, but oftentimes the concept is more appealing than the actual music. People spend a few weeks digging around and pretending to like this shit before subconsciously realizing 99% of it is unlistenable garbage and never returning to it again. Still, hardcore kids pay a lot of lip service to slam because it’s edgy and exciting. See racist oi if you’re looking for a parallel.  

^SLAM’S GREATEST CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY.

Torture is serving as the gateway to a fun bizarro world of European child molester music that most hardcore kids will realize is lame and forget about in three weeks. Combine that with their competence as a band and you have a pretty good explanation for why somebody cares about them. Still, Torture fever isn’t just contained to one friend group or sub-scene. It seems like everyone is losing their mind for this band, which I think speaks to a deeper alignment with where hardcore is musically. 

First off, beatdown’s prominence in the hardcore landscape definitely primed kids for slam. Those two genres are kissing cousins, going back to the Castle Heights days of the late 90’s when slam acts like Internal Bleeding would play shows with Irate and Everybody Gets Hurt. In fact, both genres derived their heavy breakdowns from the New York death metal scene (or more specifically, the band Suffocation).  

Beatdown used to be a niche genre for a very specific type of weirdo, much like slam. However, the ascendant popularity of Sunami and similar bands brought beatdown into the spotlight in a major way. OG bands like Cold as Life and Bulldoze are now essential listening for new kids, so when they hear the riffs on that Torture record, they already know the deal. 

Beatdown has in fact become so engrained in modern hardcore that even bands you couldn’t traditionally place under that genre tag, like Pain of Truth and Gridiron, are using some of its elements in their music. That means you don’t need to be a meathead savant to intrinsically understand the references on Enduring Freedom. You just need to be passingly familiar with the DAZE catalog. I would argue most hardcore kids in 2024 enjoy at least one band with beatdown or slam elements in their songs. 

There’s also the “old school death metal” revival spearheaded by hardcore adjacent labels like Maggot Stomp and 20 Buck Spin. A lot of those bands are pulling from shit like Suffocation, Dying Fetus and Internal Bleeding, who are direct progenitors of what Torture is doing. Seeing new death metal bands like Sanguisugabogg and 200 Stab Wounds on hardcore fests has culturally conditioned kids to enjoy guttural vocals and slam riffs. 

Finally, I'll get in my old man bag and say that from witnessing heavy hardcore/adjacent death metal in a live setting, most of these kids don’t even want to hear the fast parts of the songs. Torture is basically giving them a pure distillation of what they want – the slam parts – while managing to write engaging music with interesting themes and aesthetics.  

I think that sums up why Torture has an insane amount of traction. In years past, they would be an ironic joke for a few weeks, or a weird special interest for a few insulated pockets of hardcore. However, with the recent proliferation of the slam riff and the wholesale embracing of beatdown by the younger generation, Torture have found a “right place, right time” energy and taken off.