TAINT
Secrets and Lies
(Candlelight)

RIP KC
Spinguolf
(Alone / Influx)

CLERIC
Cumberbund
(Sound Devastation)

ZODIAK
Sermons
(Translation Loss)

ACHENAR
All Will Change
(Earthen)

HELRUNAR
Baldr Ok Iss 

(Lupus Lounge)

YOG
Years of Nowhere

(Get a Life!)

MORE REVIEWS

For starters this Miami quartet has never sounded so slim. Not that they are no longer heavy, not at fucking all, but the instrumental opener “Triumph of Venus” sounds as if these four fellas got a Bally’s membership and with the aid of some muscular personal trainers shed some pounds and got fit like Jenny Craig. No kidding, before they pummeled us with heaviness and melody and now, this short track exemplifies what Torche does best; and that is blend power with poppish enchantment. As a result the punishment Torche delivers is a balance of punch and more addictive hooks. There are no vocals here, but just listen to those guitars, weaving intrinsic and syrupy rhythms with the skills of an expert spider.

Like the title Meanderthal says it, Torche in 2008 is a perfected beast, one that lights us up with music that has refined itself through the course of some of the most auspicious metal this side of the swamp. Meanderthal is by far better than anything the band has done before, and we have to consider how good their 2005 self-titled debut and their In Return EP were. They were massive back then, now they blow eardrums.

And the key to Meanderthal is in the flow. The sequencing is flawless, with songs carving paths for what follows and with each riff exploding inside our ears, one more colorful and bombastic than the previous one. The tunes are short but these fuckers are loading them with hooks because they know that their life almost depends on them. The songwriting itself has improved greatly; “Healer”, a stoner band has never been so immediate, nor so radio ready. Think that’s a red flag? Get real. What’s good is good and Torche here are great.

“Across the Shields” it’s pop embellished with the Hydra Head logo and bruising guitars. At this point Torche are accessible. To the aware listener, this is the same band, just a 2.0 version. More advanced and expert at everything, they’ve brought Kurt Ballow (Converge) to perform desk job duties. Clearly, that was the perfect choice as he seems to have worked as the catalyst to exponential power and melody.   Every difficulty has been resolved, all bugs have been fixed. While their previous recordings showed their massive talent, they also did not completely gel with sometimes their heaviness colliding with their hooks and resolving to an unbalanced mix. On both aspects Torche now sounds like a band that has streamlined and polished those edges. A leaner yet more powerful beast. Meanderthal now frames Torche’s talents and skills in titanium for this and future generations.

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