Torche Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
Like the prehistoric man that the album's title is playfully derived from, Torche have evolved to a higher state of being, transforming into something that's similar to their ancestors, but improved. Just as it was with singer/guitarist Steve Brooks' former band, Floor, Torche have always been a band that carefully balanced melody with crushing heaviness, creating an uplifting brand of heavy metal -- doom as seen through rose-colored glasses. On their second full-length album, Meanderthal, Torche stay true to their trademark sound, but take their songwriting to a new level. All the heaviness that's expected from the band is here. The guitars, droning and impossibly low, cover everything with a thick sonic blanket of major-key riffs. Combined with Brooks' soaring vocals, the two work in tandem to create a sound that is both massive and triumphant. "Grenades" is a prime example of the genre-defying harmony at work, featuring a blend of melodic pop and sludge metal that takes the best qualities of both genres and exalts them. "Without a Sound" feels reminiscent of Big Business-era Melvins, with thoughtful, deliberate chugging that marches ahead at a stalwart pace and vocals that wouldn't sound out of place with King Buzzo behind the microphone. The titular track, "Meanderthal," is a monolithic testament to Torche's trademark "bomb string," shuddering and explosive, like the way an earthquake might sound in slow motion. "Sundown" is the album's real champion and a prime example of the evolution of Torche's songwriting. Instead of a constant barrage of buzzing guitars, the group opts for a more intricate, atmospheric approach. The guitars weave around each other during the verses, playing in the empty spaces and setting up the listener for one of the heaviest and catchiest choruses in the Torche discography. With their sophomore album, Torche have managed to step out of the shadow of their benchmark debut, creating something that not only shows the evolution of a band, but the evolution of heavy music. Meanderthal is an album that exposes the listener to the potential beauty in heavy metal and demonstrates the limitless potential of pop music. ~ Gregory Heaney, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Torche came into existence as an underground supergroup composed of vocalist/guitarist Steve Brooks (of stoner rockers Floor), lead guitarist Juan Montoya (also of Floor, plus sludgecore icons Cavity), bassist Jon Nunez (of grindcore merchants Shitstorm), and drummer Rick Smith (of every other band you can imagine), so their pedigree and experience were never in question so much as what in blazes their eponymous 2005 debut album would actually sound like. This, as it turned out, was an amalgam of sound, aptly dubbed "thunder-pop" by the group, whose prior lives in all of those " -- core" bands certainly informed the brevity of their songs (most of which lasted but one- or two-and-a-half minutes), but otherwise yielded ample evidence of stoner rock, doom, post-grunge, post-metal, and, yes, power pop! The last of these genres was most prevalent in turbulently melodic offerings like "Mentor," "Erase," and "Vampyro," while other, coarser grinds such as "Charge of the Brown Recluse" and "Holy Roar" paid tribute to the primal sludge of Cavity, EyeHateGod, and the Melvins. Somewhere in between, multifaceted fare like "F**k Addict," "Rockit," and "Make Me Alive" revealed Soundgarden to be a major influence on Torche's light/dark sensibilities; and in the nine-minute behemoth, "The Last Word," the quartet's journey from ethereal atmospherics to psychedelic sludge, and back again, made the song sound like Deep Purple's "Child in Time" for the post-rock new millennium (results may vary depending on drug use). All in all, Torche's debut plays out like a musical asteroid field, where chaotic and even seemingly haphazard collisions between foreign sonic objects yields frequently unpredictable and startlingly original new hybrids. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
