Tuesday 1 May 2012

The 2kDozen 500: #158 - Torche, "Harmonicraft"

Bombastic riffs from an age lost, or if not lost, in a part of town I don't see very much of. A bit like when I went to the rock disco in Sheffield the other week. hat was like spending an (enjoyable) evening back in 1993. "Walk It Off" really goes for it with digit-blistering venom.


"Reverse Inverted" is even slightly bigger in its riffs. They are roaming around in the valley between the mountain of stoner rock on one hand and the poppier foothills of Queen and a more flamboyant sound. Maybe this what Bill & Ted would've sounded like if they smoked more weed in San Demus: big volcanic chunks of cartoon metal that loops around quite cheerfully causing no-one any distress. Their Last FM description says they describe them as "stoner pop", so maybe the misty pop foothills are McFly and not Queen.

I get an uncomfortable feeling listening to this that I can only put down to not having any complaints about it and not being bowled over either. There's a hole where I should have an opinion. One track picks up where the previous one left off. "Kiss Me Dudely" is an interesting concept. Gender bending to match their transgression between rock and pop. "Solitary Traveler" and "Looking On" slows it down, but still cover the same ground.

The title track can't really argue that it's pop. It's too intensely focused in and on itself in the way that only rock, and the metally end of rock at that, can ever really summon up. The work of young men dressed in black. 'Tis a sturdy craft though.

Rating: Stoners out of Pop

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