TORSO

TORSO emerged from the ashes of UK horror-metal cult heroes POSSESSOR, a new beast forged in neon fire and cinematic madness. Less than a year after POSSESSOR’s demise, in 2022, frontman, guitarist and horror aficionado Graham Bywater returned with a vengeance — reborn as TORSO, a snarling one-man wrecking crew fuelled by fuzz pedals, grindhouse trash, and the spirit of DIY.

Described as the aural equivalent of a dayglo Dario Argento film set during a nuclear apocalypse, TORSO was born amidst chaos — a summer of broken bones and COVID isolation — when Graham joined forces with producer Wayne Adams (Petbrick / Wasted Death) at London’s Bear Bites Horse Studio. In under 16 hours, they conjured the raw, nightmarish debut album, A Crash Course in Terror (2023, APF Records). A wild, deranged blend of lo-fi menace, industrial stomp, and thrashing garage rock, the album channelled everything from 80s hardcore and grunge to cult horror soundtracks and doom-laced psychedelia.

Prowling through blood-drenched riffs, vintage synth stabs, and warped B-movie samples, Crash Course announced TORSO as something truly unhinged. Lead singles “Precious Blood” and “Heads Start to Roll” landed like death blows, setting the tone for a debut that was both cinematic and sinister — a love letter to VHS gore, BIG MUFF distortion, and outsider punk energy.

In 2024, TORSO returned more feral than ever with sophomore album Brain Cells — a vicious, lo-fi sci-fi horror story in eight twisted chapters. Still recorded with Adams at Bear Bites Horse, the record pushed grindhouse rock to its outer limits, with a grimy, raw power that scraped the edges of sanity. “Named after the amount of brain cells I feel like I lost making it a reality,” Graham said, “this was a venomous dose of bloodthirsty garage splatter rock for all the freaks.” Brain Cells was DIY to its core — snarling, abrasive, and strangely hypnotic.

Now in 2025, TORSO is back with third full-length Annihilation Day, set for release on 29th August via APF Records. A culmination of everything that came before, this album is TORSO’s most focused and ferocious statement yet — fusing the lo-fi horror grit of Crash Course, the snarling energy of Brain Cells, and adding layers of thrash, black metal and NWOBHM. The riffs are sharper, the mood darker, the vision clearer.

With one foot in a haunted video store and the other in a mosh pit, TORSO continues to carve out a unique place in the underground — a blood-soaked blend of nostalgia, noise, and nihilism.

FFO: Nirvana, Darkthrone, Church of Misery, Uncle Acid, Satan’s Satyrs, Mastodon and Acid Bath

Line-up

• Graham Bywater - vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, drums

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