It was a late, breezy August night in Seattle. The night was dead silent. Frogs croaked in the distance, crickets chirped in the grass and even dogs barked into the starry void. An evening of Northwest peace, that is, if you ignored the existence of the Lucky Liquor Saloon.
Within a tiny bar in Tukwila there was an auditory assault escaping from the small and sweaty corridors, caused by the death metal band Tormenta. A red and blue collision of light was surrounding them and the stage, accentuating the odd surreality of the music and performance. The music was absurdly loud and the energy exuded from relatively small crowd was unlike any other. I was in a dark corner behind the band wishing I could participate in the moshes. The 2000$ camera hanging around my neck at the time was already close to getting smashed outside the mosh. Needless to say, it was a very lively event.
The energy the band exhibited was getting the crowd riled up, there was a horde of people gathering together and it seemed, for a moment, that everyone in the room was connected.
The night’s climax was when Ben Apple, the lead guitarist, was performing a skilled and complex guitar solo and the audience reached for the guitar. The reactions of the crowd were so impressive one would think the audience practiced beforehand.
Despite being probably the most loud and aggressive metal act I have seen, the members of Tormenta were a gallery of the most genuine and nice people I have met in the world of music. They weren’t just kind but they seemed like they actually cared deeply about their music and their audience. The amount of passion witnessed when interviewed was profoundly inspiring.
The members of Tormenta took turns going on and on about his influences, until we ran out of device storage. If ever given the chance, catch a show or concert. The members of Tormenta are some of the most authentic people in music and it was an honor to talk to them.
