This demo is easily one of the most vicious demos to come from Canada. Deranged were a thrash metal band from British Columbia that formed in 1987. They played an extreme hybrid of thrash metal with a bit of early death metal thrown in (mostly in the vocals and drumming). They released two demos ("Premonitory Nightmare" and "Place of Torment") before changing their name to Debt of Nature and releasing one more demo before disbanding in 1993. I myself am extremely dissappointed with the fact that they never went anywhere in the thrash metal scene even though "Place of Torment" is something beautiful. It's fast, vicious and sounds pretty much like Morbid Saint does. What a shame.
The music on the album is extremely savage and the guitars sound like they could literally rip through your chest like a chainsaw. The bass is hardly audible as the production is only as good as one could get for a demo recording in 1989. The drums are very standard with lots of use of your average thrash metal drum beats and there's a lot of use of doubles and triplets with the bass pedals. However, that doesn't take away from the music as it actually works extremely well with the ripping guitars and the very harsh vocals. I really like the vocals on this demo a lot because they make me think of bands like Demolition Hammer and Morbid Saint.
"Place of Torment" is definitely primitive and raw but it is definitely something that should be checked out. Extremely hidden gem. It's really too bad I can't buy this on vinyl anywhere though. So spread the word and show this fucking raw piece of art to your friends. Hopefully, they won't be disappointed. If you love bands like the two mentioned earlier (Demolition Hammer and Morbid Saint) or you just in general love yourself some savage thrash metal, this demo's for you.
Highlights
"Eminence of Terror"
"Coercion"
"The Burning"
Final Rating
Awesome [8.2/10]
