Torche - Admission review
Band: | Torche |
Album: | Admission |
Style: | Sludge metal, Stoner metal |
Release date: | July 2019 |
01. From Here
02. Submission
03. Slide
04. What Was
05. Times Missing
06. Admission
07. Reminder
08. Extremes Of Consciousness
09. On The Wire
10. Infierno
11. Changes Come
This is a metalgaze record. Alright now hear me out.
I never really cared about Torche, finding them to be an okay sludge band in a sea of okay sludge bands. Enjoyable but nothing to really stick with me. I listened to this album expecting it be more of the same, so it was to my surprise to find that I actually payed attention to it and it kinda stuck out from what I remembered from them. This is the closest thing to an actual metalgaze album.
When listening to this, the thought crossed my mind that it really sounds like actual shoegaze, or alt rock stuff from the same period. We tend to think of metalgaze as stuff really close to what either Alcest or Deafheaven are doing, by mixing post-rock/shoegaze/dream pop with black metal or screamo or whatever, but the sound kind of gravitated to a certain way of sounding that really doesn't sound like the 90s scene that it takes the "gaze" part from. Who knew that you could approach that sound of the 90s, from the equally 90s sound of Melvins-worshiping sludge? Enter Admission.
The blend of sound makes it such an interesting listen, both for the nostalgia of the period and for how it still manages to sound modern. It may be the closest thing to a metalgaze record, but the sludge core is still quite strong, so expect a lot of slow down-tuned riffs sometimes raw to the core, sometimes played as a really distortion-heavy Smashing Pumpkins or My Bloody Valentine track. The results aren't completely homogeneous, but the sheer power of the sludgier cuts and the haziness of the alternative ones don't feel at odds with one another either.
Torche just managed to expand their sound palette in a lighter direction without sacrificing any of their trademark heaviness. The blend may not be completely homogeneous yet, but they show great mastery of the sound already, while also proving that they would be a kickass alternative rock band if they really wanted to. So now they're both.
| Written on 25.07.2019 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out. |
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