Crustcake Reviews: Torche - 'In Return' 10" EP

Below is crustcake's first official 'album review'. We at crustcake care about our readers*, and want to give them an experience they won't find anywhere else**, so we've decided to offer reviews of albums only in their vinyl format, the way nature intended. Awesome.

Two words: “Bomb String.” While other bands tune to dropped D or even C or lower, Miami quartet Torche take things a step further, tuning the low string of their guitars so slack that the sound emitted isn’t even a discernible note. The bomb string’s din can best be likened to the infamous ‘brown note‘.

Torche’s signature sound is defined by– in addition to the bomb string of course– an unorthodox melding of heavy, sludgy riffing and former Floor front man Steve Brooks’ catchy, almost poppy vocals.

In Return is the follow up to Torche’s self-titled 2005 debut. Though it falls short of the 20 minute mark, In Return still manages to pack quite a punch. The psych-outs that diluted the overall heaviness of Torche are mostly absent on In Return, replaced by monumentally crushing riffs and a liberal serving of the aforementioned bomb string.

The album, more accurately described as an EP, comes in 10" format rather than the standard 12". Several colors of vinyl are available (the one I reviewed was 'Beer/Mustard', at bottom-right in the below picture), and the packaging is a heavy, high-gloss cardboard that really enhances the record's value. The EP also includes a CD-- a move becoming ever more popular with vinyl releases lately-- so you won't have to try and cram the 10" record into your car's CD player or your computer's disk drive.

Torche - In Return 10" (assorted colors):



Torche - In Return 10" (detail):



The art was done by John Baizley of Baroness who is also the mastermind behind most of the latter's visual identity. His watercolor-heavy method is all 'analog', so to speak, meaning he draws everything by hand and only at the last possible moment does a computer get involved. Among other things, Baizley has penned the images for Baroness' First, Second, and Red Album, as well as MetalKult.com's masthead.

Torche - In Return 10" (back/front cover):



Alright, on to the music.

In Return careens out of the gates with the lumbering, angular riffing of “Warship.” This is followed immediately by the EP’s title track, which plays out more like the quick one-two punch of two separate songs. The first half is catchy and up-tempo and then, abruptly, Torche slam into low gear, hammering the listener with punctuated drums and sludgy riffs as Brooks delivers the EP’s namesake lyrics, “we give you nothing in return!”

“Bring Me Home” is In Return’s unexpected ‘ballad’. Long tones and post-rock tremolo picking abound as imaginary lighters sway above the listener’s head.

Torche crank it up again on “Rule the Beast” before going tectonic on “Olympus Mons,” which is named for the tallest mountain in our solar system. Then, Torche continue their incessant eardrum destruction with the impossibly heavy “Tarpit Carnivore”– the last half of which is played almost entirely on the bomb string– and album closer “Hellion.”

Bottom line: On In Return, Torche continue to hone their unique craft and, despite its brevity, In Return is definitely one of the strongest albums of 2007.

9.0/10 [Audible]
9.0/10 [Physical]

[MP3] Torche - "Olympus Mons"

Torche [MySpace] [MP3]
In Return [Amazon] [iTunes]

Originally published at MetalInjection.net.

* Not really.

** The validity of this statement has not been reviewed by the FDA, TSA, CIA, FBI, NASA, CSI, LMNOP, or any other acronymic organization. In other words, we made it up.