What's very clear from the onset with _Swarm!_ though is that musically the bar has been picked up and vaulted into an entirely new stratosphere. Whether or not this has anything to do with Barnes' presence is beside the point, because from the moment the album chugs to life, Torture Killer are a more mature, decidedly less derivative and infinitely more engaging prospect. There's no mistaking their genre of choice -- this is still chugging, mid-tempo death metal from start to finish, replete with the obligatory bile-soaked lyrics. Only now, the band actually seem as though they want to be taken seriously. They even toss in the odd leftfield nugget along the way, like the soaring lead on "Forever Dead" or the haunting melody that rounds out "Multiple Counts of Murder". While these grow to increasingly short supply towards the latter stages of the album, overall this is easily one of the most simplistic and mindlessly exhilarating records you're going to hear in 2006. As for Barnes -- let's just say that this is the best thing his name has been attached to since _Maximum Violence_.