Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Torche- Meanderthal

Carved out of the massive entity formerly known as Floor and featuring members of Cavity and Shitstorm, Miami FL's Torche have created a sound so large it could have roamed the earth freely amongst the prehistoric dinosaurs millions of years ago. Mesozoic layers of shattering bass forged together with heroic guitars and majestic vocals flying over a molten sea of doom, Meanderthal, their first album on Hydra Head Records, is epic and far from prehistoric. Torche take heavy music farther than the naked eye can see.

In merely four years as a band and two albums and one EP into it, Torche have managed to expand their sound and grow musically with every release, which is a difficult task to pull off. Meanderthal maintains a beautiful balance of heavy and melodic, soaring and thrashing, crushing and soothing. Doom pop anthems like "Grenades" and "Healer" could really find a place in the ears of anyone with an interest in rock music, while tracks like "Pirana" and "Speed of The Nail" throw the switch into the red and fly in like a T-Rex assault. And that's just in the first half of the album!

The second half of the album sinks deep into the sludge and paralyzes you with heavy, tribal, psychedelic waves of crusty rock as the album ends with the title track pounding you into the ground like a giant hammer.

Torche have found a way to dodge the pigeonholing commonly found in heavy music and have created a solid rock album that could crossover and cater to many different audiences while still pushing the limits of heavy, experimental music. Album of the year???

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