Torche ‘Restarter’ Review: band takes their sweet, stoner sound to new heights.
[rating=5]
When describing the sound of Miami metallers Torche, the main conceit is that the band varies effortlessly between sugary upbeat rockers and stoner sludge anthems, sounding at times like two different bands with competing approaches.
But as the band’s sound has evolved, those two poles have become more intertwined, which culminates on their fourth album Restarter: a beautiful collision of seismic riffing and harmonious alt-rock.
Opening salvo Annihilation Affair is a fine case in point: where a Kyuss-worthy stoner riff transitions into a feedback soaked coda that evokes My Bloody Valentine.
Bishop In Arms has a rollicking rockabilly rhythm that cuts through the solar flare guitars and Steve Brooks triumphant vocals. And first single Minions walks the fine line between bludgeoning and blissful, recalling Smashing Pumpkins at their 90’s peak.
Click here for the SLIS interview with Torche’s Steve Brooks
The band glide through so many sub-genres so effortlessly (dream-pop, stoner, psych and 90’s alternative) and blend them so effectively that it makes for a sound both familiar and alien. This applies to Brooks’ vocals in particular: drawing upon stylings of Perry Farrell, Page Hamilton and Ozzy but in a unique blend.
Loose Men is a poppy standout: whipcrack drums, effervescent guitar lines and soaring vocals.
Restarter benefits enormously from producer (and band bassist) Jonathan Nuñez. Whereas so many albums these days suffer from anemic production, Restarter sounds absolutely huge, stuffed with hissing distortion and speaker rattling bass, but never at the expense of song craft.
The band closes out with the title track, eight minutes and forty seconds of glorious trippiness with a guitar riff akin to a burrowing drill driving the band into subterranean soundscapes. It’s euphoric, punishing, hypnotic and demanding all at once, which sums up the album and great alternative metal in general. It may be the most fun you’ll have punishing your eardrums in 2015.
