Review Fix Exclusive: Torment Tool’s Francis Klein Talks Origin And More

BReview Fix chats with Torment Tool’s Francis Klein, who discusses the band’s origin, creative process and more.

Review Fix: How did you guys get together?

Francis Klein: Well that’s a pretty classy story. I, Ringl and Ulli have been at the same school. So they met on the school yard. Ulli was the only guy with a little bit of education in music. Francis and Ringl were also starting to learn their instruments with founding the band. Our actual drummer joined after the last one left. We know Alex since our early day when we shared the same rehearsal room. Before Torment Tool he was also drummer of Rampage, and several other bands. Right now he’s also playing in a progressive death metal band called “virocracy.”

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Klein: It’s somehow hard to explain. Most of the time Ulli or Francis come up with a certain riff or maybe  a first version of a song. But most of the time we start with instrumental songs and add afterwards lyrics. You see no one of us  is very handy with words.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this band special?

Klein: For myself i think it’s the special band of friendship which makes the band unique. You see, we’ve been together nor for almost 15 years and only had a lack of drummers. Further to say, it’s our own music which expresses our feelings the best way.  Also that point that we don’t have to be commercial successful because everyone of us  also has a daytime job. So this is our hobby and we can make music in the way we want to hear it.

Review Fix: How would you describe your style?

Klein: We do some bay area thrash. pretty simple straight to the point. If you listen to our music you also will be able to tell where our  influences come from and where our roots are.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?

Klein: The world shall be aware that we still exist. That’s also the meaning of the title. You see, we don’t have the time or money to release every year another album or to go  on tour with big bands because of our daytime jobs. But we still are alive and have a craving for metal. 

Review Fix: What’s the standout song? Is there a story behind it?

Klein: My personnel favorite is “within the web”. You see that title is all about the people who are  always online and available. Further to say, nowadays everyone needs to be online  to be alive. If you are not listed in facebook, instagram, pinterest, and so on… you don’t exist anymore. 

Review Fix: What’s next?

Klein: Maybe a lot of shows, maybe more fame. Who can tell. We will go on and have further plans about new music. So stay tuned.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13861 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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