Meanderthal Men

by crustcake gerf (NYC)

[UPDATE] Stereogum has an MP3 for "Healer," which just so happens to be the best song on the album. Grab the track here.

So, there's this record label you may have heard of. They're called Hydrahead and today they released Meanderthal, the second full-length from Miami's Torche. We mentioned it briefly yesterday, and once I get my grubby little hands on a vinyl copy (which is actually being released by Robotic Empire, not Hydrahead) you can bet your britches we'll have a review.

Not only does Hydrahead put out kick ass records, they also happen to have a swell sense of humor:

One night some months ago we had a dream. Not like a Martin Luther King-type dream, with little kids of all races and nationalities holding hands and shit like that. No, we had a more realistic dream—okay, okay, it was the middle of the day and we were high and maybe jerking off, so technically it was more of a fantasy—but the dream we had was that one of our favorite bands would be on our label and together we would release one of the most satisfying records in the history of forever. And the heavens would part, the Billboard charts would collapse under the sheer sonic awesomeness, and the world would become a better place—a place where everyone had free health care and a money tree in their backyard and a hot trophy wife or strapping young houseboy or whatever.

And that band, ladies and gentlemen, was Torche. And wouldn’t you know it, that shit totally came true (we’re waiting on the health care, the money tree, the houseboy and the Billboard thing, but still). And that record—in case you’re having trouble keeping up here—is Meanderthal. Call it the band’s second official full-length (after their 2005 self-titled debut via our good friends at Robotic Empire) and follow-up to last year’s six-song mini-epic In Return, released exclusively on hallucinogenic vinyl. Call it the latest and greatest bomb-string stoner pop/thunder rock/doom pop classic from Torche mastermind Steve Brooks and his fellow hook heroes. Call it the sweetest, catchiest, hugest riff colossus since Sky Valley. Shit, call it Album Of The Year if you want. That’s what we’re going with, anyway.

Hey, Hyrdrahead? I might just take up on that 'Album of the Year' offer. I guess we'll find out in eight months or so.

PaperThinWalls has Meanderthal streaming in full, as well as a track-by-track breakdown from frontman Steve Brooks and guitarist Juan Montoya. Check it all out here.

Download: Torche - "Grenades" [MP3]
Listen: Torche - Meanderthal [Full Album Stream]
Buy: Torche - Meanderthal [Amazon]