Tormentor (band)

Tormentor was formed in Budapest in 1985 by Attila Csihar, who was then in his mid-teens.^[2] The band recorded the demo The Seventh Day of Doom in 1987 and the album Anno Domini in 1988.^[1][3]

Although Anno Domini was recorded in 1988, it did not receive a proper release at the time. According to A38 Ship, the communist authorities in Hungary held back the possibility of a formal release because of the band's extreme music and live performances.^[1] Decibel similarly wrote that the planned release failed during the late communist period and that the album instead circulated through copied tapes.^[3] Through the underground tape-trading network, Anno Domini reached listeners outside Hungary and became known in the wider black metal scene.^[1][4]

Following the suicide of Per Ohlin, Mayhem invited Csihar to perform vocals on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.^[1][2] Tormentor split up in 1991.^[1]

The band returned after a long period of inactivity and released the more experimental album Recipe Ferrum! 777 through Avantgarde Music.^[5] Proper Music described the album as a 2000 release created during a more experimental period following the band's original split in 1991.^[6]

Tormentor's music is usually classified as black metal.^[1] A38 Ship described the group as a Hungarian proto-black metal band whose early recordings influenced later black metal acts.^[1] Metal Injection wrote that Anno Domini was important because it emerged from Hungary's relative isolation during the late Cold War and reached the underground metal scene through tape trading.^[4] Decibel described Anno Domini as a delayed but influential black metal release that reached Western Europe, Scandinavia, the United States and South America through copied tapes.^[3]