On the contrary, bad seems pretty appropriate, because there are words that mean "worse than bad". "The worst" would be an example of something that would not be appropriate, unless it is actually worse than the holocaust. To me, brutal is basically a superlative.

I have the same reaction when I see people describe something as "extremely x". I don't often see things described as "extremely" whatever and think, "yep this person has a decent grasp on reality". This may just be something I'm sensitive to for whatever reason.