Torche

As I said on the Boris thread I'm going to the Webster Hall show! Meanderthal is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. And yes, that packaging is amazing. It's similar on the CD, except, you know, small.

I think "Fat Waves" is my favorite song of theirs. But that could change once I get some of their older albums. Are they just as good?

will also play at ZXZW
www.zxzw.nl

after listening to them in myspace - dont they sound like million other bands around?

I don't think so, I think they've found a largely unoccupied niche. What bands are you thinking of?

Yeah seriously? If there are other bands like this let me know because I would like them all. I'm thinking specifically of power pop harmonies over Sleep dirges.

for example:
http://www.myspace.com/thelovedones

(a general 1st impression, though. i might not recognize the uniqueness after 1st listen)

for those that don't know they're playing the melvins/mike patton nightmare before christmas in minehead (UK) too.

is it me or is there a distinct whiff of foo fighters about torche, only a bit fuzzier? are they the arena rock band it's OK for the southern lord tribe to like?

I reviewed the new Torche album and mentioned something about a couple of the songs having this skatepunk edge to them which I guess would link up with those guys, but no-one else seems to have spotted this, and it's also pretty atypical of their sound

"those guys" = The Loved Ones. Have seen Foo Fighters bandied about as well but it's not something I specifically get from them

Is is possible for a band to sound like MELVINS and ABBA???

are you kidding me with that link to The Loved Ones?! I hear nothing in common at all. I thought you were going to link to some sludge band or something

it's too melodic to be sludge -
sort of a poppy sludge, you might say:melvins,Queens of the stone age and foo fighters in a brain storm meeting.
it sounds nice and they play well, but it's not something i havent heard before.
but thats ok too i guess

anyway, they arouse the risk of deafness, opening for Boris.

I hear some queens of the stone age, a lot of melvins, and maybe foo fighters circa colour and the shape vaguely very very vaguely. a lot angrier though.

How on earth do you hear Torche as angry?

Yeah, I don't hear the "angry" in their sound either. "Aggressive," certainly. Sort of a mix of joy and frustration. They don't sound a thing like that myspace band Zeno linked to, but I understand the point he's trying to make; there IS a definite skate-punky element in the vocal style and the melodies. "Healer" sounds like it could almost be a Bad Religion song. Which is funny, because I love that song and I can't stand BR. I think that goes to show how much instrumental timbre/production style can sway opinions so easily. If it wasn't for their sludgy sonics, would the same people still like this band?

I think I hear the anger in that bomb note they use that sounds like an explosion and can't fully be replicated on CD

Have any of you guys heard his previous band Floor? They were an awesome band. I have both their lps but there should be a cd or vinyl set of unreleased stuff coming at some point which I am excited about.

oh and you might hear where Torche are coming from..

http://www.last.fm/music/Floor

http://www.myspace.com/floor

Finally picked this up today, am loving it.

saw these guys with Boris a couple nights ago, pretty good live set. need to check out the records.

-- stephen, Monday, June 30, 2008 11:35 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

so fucking jealous of this guy ^^^^^

I saw them in here Denver last week and finally figured out how they get so heavy. They've got a second guitar and bass with super heavy strings tuned really low and aluminum necks.

I hate to come off like a moron here.. but....

How do you pronounce Torche?

I'm really liking some this stuff the faster ones on Meanderthal sound like a Big Drill Car/Carcass blend.

My brother-in-law got me into this band, and after a couple listens I hear a bit of a David Lee Roth thing with the vocals. This isn't a bad thing, mind you.

I've always just pronounced it as "Torch" with the e silent.

Weird, I've always said "torsh". Like a good Canadian, I suppose.

Pronounced "Torsh" here too.

come to think of it that is probably correct--why add the e if it's silent?

I always thought it was "tor-SHAY". like a pun on "touche". I think I like it better that way.

PS this album rocks, why did I forget to put it on my year-end list?

oh wait nvm I guess I had it at #8 (?!? behind Kanye fucking West what the SHIT was I thinking)

all this is just a long way of saying, the weather got really nice here for a couple of days and I drove around with my windows down headbanging to this

ILX metal thread voters didn't!
It was no 1 on ILX METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2008 POLL

Hoping it places high in the general albums poll.

ILX metal voters didn't forget anything because Pfunkboy reminded us 40 times day.

:)

And Phil still forgot to vote in the poll!

meanderthal reminds me of like if 90s alt rock bands like walt mink or hum were metal bands

lol walt mink.

never heard torche--macho?

lol walt mink.

― ian, Thursday, July 30, 2009 11:40 PM (1 minute ago)

:(

i dont think torche are really macho at all

definitely not macho

Haha, no not macho.

meanderthal reminds me of like if 90s alt rock bands like walt mink or hum were metal bands

― tulsa anti-juggalo league (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, July 30, 2009 10:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

like if the melvins blew up instead of nirvana

maybe i should listen to torche!

sorry but walt mink are just... some kind of punch line to a lame joke somewhere.

xpost

“At long last, we know what life would be like in a parallel universe where the Melvins became a pop sensation instead of Nirvana,” Revolver magazine added.

u should obviously listen to torche. saw em again last saturday and they killed it of course.

saw em on sunday and they killed it

Torche is probably one of the 10 best bands going right now imo

yeah i really like the album

walt mink was good! their drummer was amazing, he was lenny waronker the record company guy's son
and his sister was the main person of the band That Dog
and he ended up being Beck's drummer for a long time

but sometimes some of torche's riffs on meanderthal remind me of walt mink, like the sorta higher on the neck, cyclical riffs

but yeah meanderthal is great, that's the only one i've heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxp77nZcm9k

new song on itunes and spotify

new to Torche. obv into stoner stuff but I had a hard time convincing myself to listen to Torche because of the descriptions given of them; I like my sludge/stoner stuff to be dank and depressing and the idea of poppy melodies and shit didn't appeal to me.

they came by a few weeks ago and I was bored and it was $10 so I figured why not check it out and the opening strains of Meanderthal were like the coolest fucking thing ever and on listening to em this is pretty great stuff. really love the s/t and Meanderthal, still need some more time to determine what I think of Restarter.

also got the Floor box cos it was only $26 on Amazon, have enjoyed listening to each disc at random to see their progression. On Dove right now..

Like you, I was late to the party, mostly for the same reasons you mentioned. I've since converted big time and I think the new one is my favorite!

Wise decision to grab that Floor box, great stuff in there.

It took me a while to get into Restarter because I thought it wasn't poppy enough (I usually have the opposite problem) but it's pretty good. It's gonna sound REALLY good if/when the weather gets a lot warmer.

I think if it was poppier, I might not have given it a chance (I didn't like the previous stuff much, but now I'm going back to all of it). "No Servants" is my JAM.

Also, bought the deluxe edition of the vinyl direct from the label just for "Harmonslaught" - man, what a riff!

These guys have a real cool sound. You can definitely see where it might have come from but the mixing of those sounds is really unique. I'd definitely like to see Torche live to see how it goes over.

torche is a great live band

New album, Admission, out on Friday. First impressions are very good so far. Picking up where Restarter left off.