Tupan Music – like almost everything in the world – can be selled. And generated a business tha moves million of dollars. But, some musicians remember us that music is an work of art, and therefore can be made only for passion and pleasure, without commercial motivation.

Let's see the case of Lord K. Philipson. He has a commercial band - Project Hate MCMXCIX -, whose albums are released by a big metal label. He is malso the leader of Torture Division, an excellent band of death metal. All the releases of TD are free for download, and the quality of their music are so good that most of the people must think they (the guys of TD) are crazy for do this without expecting to receive (much) money. But they do, and we must praise them for this!

But... and the music of Torture Division? It's brutal death metal, pure and simply! Their songs are varied, with crushing riffs – a very nice work with the bass and guitars. The drumming is relentless, but don't focusing in blasting beats all the time – showing that the drummer is a skilled guy. But don't worry, there's enough blasting beats to desatroy all the bones of your middle ear! The vocals are unidimensional (growls, growls, growls), but hey, it's death metal! In this release, the lyrics are sung in swedish, and it's a bonus to me! It's always good to listen metal bands singing in their native language!

So, in a nutshell: this demo (EP?) is killer, and the death metal fans will like! Remember, it's free (with a donation option)!

UMUR "Satan, Sprit och Våld" is a demo release by Swedish death metal act Torture Division. It was recorded during the fall/winter of 2011, mixed by Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale...etc.) and made available for free download on the band´s official homepage in 2012. Torture Division was formed in 2007 by Jörgen Sandström (vocals, bass), Tobias Gustafsson (drums) and Lord K. Philipson (guitars). Three prolific Swedish death metal musicians who have been or still are involved with acts like Leukemia, Grave, Entombed, The Project Hate MCMXCIX, Vomitory...etc. It is the group´s declared goal that they will not charge their fans money for their music, so all the band´s releases are available for free download on the band´s official homepage.

The music on the three track, 9:02 minutes long demo is death metal done the Swedish way. Well...the more brutal Swedish way, but while there are certainly enough blast beats on the album to satisfy most deathgrind freaks, "Satan, Sprit och Våld" also feature enough hooks and groove based sections to not be tagged brutal death metal or deathgrind for that matter. The band´s last demo "Through the Eyes of a Dead (2011)" contained "Clark the Monarch" which partly featured Swedish language lyrics and that trend is continued on "Satan, Sprit och Våld" where the lyrics for all three tracks are in the band´s native tongue. A very charming move if you ask me and it sounds really great. Torture Division are a really well playing band and with a powerful and brutal sound production to boot, "Satan, Sprit och Våld" is one hell of a demo.

...actually calling "Satan, Sprit och Våld" a demo sounds a bit ridiculous to my ears. The quality of the release means that it could easily have been released through a label, but since the band insist on releasing their music for free (and I´m not certainly not the one to bitch about that), I guess it´s the most correct catagorization of the release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved. Buckle up and get ready to be torn apart!