Tormented (Staind album)

In 1993, Lewis and Staind guitarist Mike Mushok met at a Christmas party in Springfield, Massachusetts. Originally, Staind went by the name Stain, but changed the name to Staind after the band found out the moniker already had been claimed by another group. Staind originally covered songs by bands such as Korn, Tool, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Deftones, and Helmet. The band played their first gig in February 1995. The band officially formed in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 24, 1995, By 1996, Staind obtained the $2,500 they needed for recording Tormented. Mushok said in a 2021 Ultimate Guitar interview that the first songs he and Lewis wrote together are "No One's Kind" and "Painful", both of which appeared on Tormented. Extensive touring in the Northeast United States helped Staind acquire an underground following. In a 2008 interview, Lewis elaborated on the motivation for the musical style featured on Tormented: ==Music and lyrics==

, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Rage Against the Machine as influences, inspiring the heavy guitar riffs on Tormented. The songs on Tormented are about topics such as pain, animosity, suicide and depression. Author Tommy Udo wrote: "Tormented is one long rush of hardcore a 900mph scream of a man smashing his head against a wall with frustration". According to Rockzone, Tormented "revealed the raw feelings of a band whose front man Aaron Lewis captivated the minds and souls of teenagers and young adults tired of the vanity that has overcome life." Described as alternative metal by AllMusic, This is hinted by the spoken-word line, "it's been like this forever... no more... I hate my fucking life", followed by the sound of a gun being cocked before the first song, "Tolerate"; this thematic device returns with the line "there's nothing left for me" and then the sound of a gunshot immediately after the song "Four Walls" and before the hidden track "Funeral". The lyrics on Tormented were written by Lewis except the lyrics to "Four Walls", which was written by Mushok. Mushok provided the spoken word vocals on Tormented, "Nameless", "See Thru", and "Four Walls". For years, Lewis experienced serious depression and also considered suicide, too. "I’ve had a gun in my mouth," he says. "Just crying and wanting to do it, but not being able to for the thought of what it would do to the people I was going to leave behind. It took a hell of a lot more courage to not pull that trigger than it would have taken to pull it." During Staind's early days, Lewis was influenced by bands like Pantera and Sepultura. Despite being an aggressive album overall, Tormented song "Four Walls" is a soft song, foreshadowing Staind's overall change in the early 2000s to a softer sound. ==Release, promotion, and reception==

Release, promotion, and sales Self-released on November 29, 1996, with many obtaining the album. Being distributed to local record stores and at concerts, 2,000 copies of Tormented were sold within a year and Tormented was later available on Staind's website. Tormented had only sold a few thousand copies by 2002. Promoting the release of Tormented, Staind played gigs throughout New England with bands such as God Lives Underwater, Gwar, and Kilgore. The Northeast Performer wrote: "Staind's musicianship is striking, and their live performance takes their recorded material one step further: pushing the envelope, ripping up the envelope, then jumping up and down all over the envelope til there ain't a damn thing left". Andrew Blackie of PopMatters wrote about Tormented: "It’s disarming how heavy" Staind "were in those days, how screaming misery ... over harsh, sololess distortions made them sound more like the protégé of Pantera than the descendants of Alice in Chains they do today." Chad Childers of Loudwire ranked Tormented sixth place out of the band's seven studio albums, describing it as "a promising start for Staind, though one not widely heard." ==Artwork==

The album is known for its grotesque, graphic cover art. The cover depicts a bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix with nails hanging from a plastic frame, a buried person with a rosary protruding from the person's nose, and a knife impaling a Bible. On October 23, 1997, when Staind met Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst at the Webster Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, by February 1998. Mushok said he "tried to get" Durst "to calm down", explaining to Durst that the cover art was meant to portray someone "who seemed normal going through a difficult time". Mushok said the cover art represents "someone who had lost belief in everything". According to Mushok, the cover art was not meant to be a religious thing. Mushok said the cover art "came out" as a religious thing "because the Bible was the most shocking image." Lewis said that the album cover "was twisted and demented and it totally did what it was supposed to do, which is shock the hell out of [Durst]". Lewis then said nonetheless, Durst "didn't find it shocking in an amusing way. It definitely grabbed your attention. That was the point of it." Lewis also has said about Tormented album cover: "That artwork depicted where I was at in my life," Lewis says. "I had lost faith in everything, from religion to love to life." Staind reportedly thought later that the album cover for Tormented was naïve. According to Mushok, Staind had to reschedule the album's release party because they had difficulty finding anyone willing to print the artwork. Tormented also has artwork that shows the album's titles in smeared blood similar to the Charles Manson tradition. Backwards letters are also used on the song titles. ==Live performances and post-Tormented==

The Tormented track "Mudshuvel" was re-recorded and renamed "Mudshovel" as a radio-friendly version and the re-recorded version was released in 1999 as the third single for Staind's second studio album Dysfunction. The Tormented track "Come Again" is on Staind's 2006 singles compilation. "Come Again" also appears on a sampler which was both free and available for fans who Staind's 2005 studio album Chapter V. The Tormented track "See Thru" was for the 2002 soundtrack album NASCAR on Fox: Crank It Up. For a long time, Staind have not played many songs from Tormented except for "Tolerate", "Come Again", and "Break". == Track listing ==

;Notes: • The voice from the intro of "Tolerate" can be heard again at the end of "Four Walls", saying, "There's nothing left for me", followed by the sound of a gunshot, segueing into the silence that follows. • "Four Walls" ends at 5:28, and is followed by 8:02 seconds of silence. A hidden track begins at 13:30. • The hidden track at the end of “Four Walls”, entitled "Funeral", is a near 20-minute musique concrète track, meant to replicate a funeral. The track contains a church organ that plays continuously throughout the track, the sound of a few people coughing, and a preacher reciting passages of the Bible, including Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 from the Old Testament's book the Book of Psalms. The audio progressively distorts, with the preacher’s voice descending in pitch and back-masking, the organ becoming more sporadic in its composition, and the sounds of static and a siren spontaneously interrupting. ==Personnel==

Credits are adapted from AllMusic and Tormented liner notes. ;Staind • Aaron Lewis – lead vocals • Mike Mushok – guitars, backing vocals, spoken word • Johnny April – bass, backing vocals • Jon Wysocki – drums ;Additional personnel • Jeff Gilmer – production, engineering • Mike Mushok – production, artwork • Johnny April – production, artwork • Kaz – artwork • Keith Vasquez – photography ==References==