There's been a lot of praise for TORCHE in the press this year, and we've been quietly enjoying the articles, features and reviews surrounding their latest Meanderthal album. But we can't hold our tongue on just how stoked we are to be a part of TORCHE's legacy as we announce their securing the #1 Album of the Year position in Decibel Magazine's year-end issue! This is almost overwhelming to us, as we've been working with TORCHE since day one (and co-released Meanderthal with Hydra Head) and are totally proud and happy for one of the hardest-working bands we've ever been fortunate enough to work with.
That many writers are feeling the same way about the band we saw so much potential in early on, has gratifyingly culminated in the #1 Album of the Year position in easily our favorite music magazine going today. It can be hard for an independent magazine to uphold integrity when fear of upsetting advertisers is always looming, but Decibel has always managed to give honest, well-written reviews and simultaneously feature cutting edge bands that many other mags would deem "too underground" to make them worth covering. We have been honored to work with this band, and are pumped that Hydra Head has done such a killer job promoting and taking the reins with the beast known only as TORCHE!
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It is also no small footnote that TORCHE has secured the #2 position on Pitchfork's "Show No Mercy" column's year-end picks as well:
Steve Brooks' approach to stoner rock's always included hooks, only nothing as pronounced, polished, or immediately addictive as the 13 tracks comprising Torche's second full-length: If radio wasn't a wasteland Meanderthal would cross over -- it's precision pop. People have described the Miami band as the Melvins chewing bubblegum, but on "Healer" or "Grenades" they sound more like a sludgy, doom-y Superchunk (or, at times, a non-suck Foo Fighters). The album's still plenty knotty and heavy (see opener "Triumph Of Venus" if you want technical guitar riffs), but it also features some of the best hooks of the year in any genre. Last time I spoke with Brooks he worked in a pizza shop. If there's any justice in this world, that's changed.
It probably needs little reminder, but Meanderthal is available in an over-the-top vinyl package from Robotic Empire (found here in our Online Store), and on the CD format from Hydra Head Records. We're knocking off three bucks from the asking price for the LP until the end of the year as a little encouragement to the folks who haven't picked up the deluxe vinyl edition yet.
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