IN REVIEW: Torche - "Restarter"

Whether as a byproduct of their new label, a reflection of their influences or all of the above, Torche's fourth album (and first for heavy music stalwart Relapse Records) finds the Floridian noisemakers at their most visceral and immediate. Whereas previous LP Harmonicraft was a spit-shined refinement of their mountainous riff rock, steering them toward the crossroads of hard rock and pop, Restarter ignites a trail of gasoline and breathes in the smoke.

The intentions are clear from the drop, as Annihilation Affair crashes in with an off-time, thunderous rhythm and some murderous guitar tones before giving way to a hypnotic, cacophonous groove that threatens to never end. As the clouds part, Bishop in Arms takes off on a stampeding rhythm (courtesy of tom-happy sticksman Rick Smith) and a soaring vocal by Steve Brooks.

It's followed by Minions, the first taste we got of the record back in December. Heavy and methodical, its slow groove and melodic attack make it an easy favourite. The next three tracks come at you in rapid succession; the sugary and nimble Loose Men, the gleefully destructive Undone and the groove happy Blasted fly by in less time than the album's epic title track (which we'll get to).

The album's B-side sees them get just a bit bogged down in sludge; No Servants rides a squealing wave of noise for its opening 90 seconds or so before finding a suitably sticky riff to work with. Believe It finds a menacingly low tone, sounding in places like a song that's playing at half speed. Then, there's Barrier Hammer, another slow burner that threatens to boil over and/or cave under the weight of its own volume; Restarter is a very loud record, and Barrier Hammer is its loudest track, becoming nearly unlistenable with its (let's face it, in 2015 it's not even surprising anymore) oppressive and distorted loudness. In fairness, for the purposes of this review I'm going by the Google Play Music stream (which is 320 kbps mp3) as I don't have the CD yet, but I don't exactly have my hopes up (especially considering my experience with Red Fang, the last Relapse CD I purchased).

For its aforementioned epic title track, Restarter picks the tempo back up, rising from the previous three songs' fog and reaching for the clouds. As its nearly nine minutes play out, there's ample time to get lost in the noise, reflect on what we've learned along the way and ponder where to go from here. In the case of Torche, that could be anywhere, but it's surely to this point been well worth the trip.

February 24, 2015 • Relapse

Highlights Annihilation Affair • Minions • Restarter