Friday 5 July 2019

Torche - Admission (Album Review)


Release date: 12th July 2019. Label: Relapse Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Admission – Tracklisting

1.From Here
2.Submission
3.Slide
4.What Was
5.Times Missing
6.Admission
7.Reminder
8.Extremes Of Consciousness
9.On The Wire
10.Infierno
11.Changes Come

Members

Steve Brooks - (Guitar/Vocals)
Rick Smith - (Drums)
Jonathan Nuñez - (Guitar)
Eric Hernandez - (Bass)

Review

Greetings All,

There is not any reason to waste time giving you the backstory on Torche. I feel as though it you are reading this, you are familiar with these guys and their tremendous work to date. What does need to be said is that 15 years into their career Torche has delivered unto us unworthy souls their absolute best record so far. Admission is 11 tracks of pure rock brilliance!

Fuzzed out and heavy and loaded with a fuck-ton of hooks and will keep these songs in your head for the foreseeable future. The band delivers on their trademark sound with huge guitars and riffs, massive, earth quaking drums, fuzzed out bass work and their strongest vocals to date.

The record opens with the explosive blast of From Here with it’s double drum and massive riff driving the start/stop tempo as the band brings in some dissonant guitars and echoed vocals as an extra measure. Submission brings in a heavy bass groove and leads into more dissonance and heaviness with Slide. A driving punk inspired beat carries one of the albums best moments with What Was, a stellar blast noise. The band reels things in a bit with Times Missing. A slower, fuzzed out gem accentuated with some mighty cymbal crashes.

The best song on the album is by far the title track, Admission. The song has a bit of a new wave mixed with 90’s rock feel over a killer chorus. Things take a bit of spacier vibe with the dissonance and repetitive feel of Reminder. Driving drums and some well placed synth sounds unleash the Extremes Of Consciousness

A big guitar and drum intro bring in the more ominous sounding On The Wire with even more massive guitars and some serious lead guitar work. A smouldering rumble lies under the lumbering Infiereno which plays out and finally explodes with waves of crushing feedback and distortion. The album closes with the top notch song craft of Changes Come. A heavy pop titan loaded with fuzz and synth.

It is fairly safe to say that Admission will be near the top of my best of list, and I imagine many others as well. If you dig Torche, or just head shaking, body quaking rock n rolla, you will undoubtedly dig on this record. Check it out!

- Todd S - Instagram @alltheghoststhathauntyou

Words by Todd Stealey


Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR for the promo. Admission will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Relapse Records from July 12th 2019.

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