Album Review: Torche - Songs for Singles

Torche - Songs for Singles (E.P.)

Release Date September 21, 2010

Hydra Head

One day, someone walked up to Torche and said, "Hey, you need to write shorter songs and shorter albums" Torche obliged. That of course is complete speculation, but that's what I felt after listening to their latest release. Songs for Singles is the much anticipated follow up to the acclaimed Meanderthal from the Miami based Torche. Rather than releasing a full length album, Torche, now a 3-piece, decided to release a batch of songs they had been working on instead. The self produced Songs for Singles is an 8 track, 22 minute haymaker that does not let up. What I've always enjoyed about Torche is the crafting of the songs. For a heavy band, their songs are usually upbeat, poppy, and have (gasp) melody, they are also very to the point. They're kind of like Bubblegum Sludge... Bubblesludge, or better yet Sludgegum.

However, when I began listening to this E.P. to review it, I knew there was something there different than Meanderthal. Mind you I really enjoyed that album and had high expectations for this one, but it did not captivate me, at first. Though after about three weeks of listening to the whole thing on a somewhat regular basis, I think it is appropriate to call Songs for Singles a grower to Meanderthal's show-er. According to the band, they wanted to write songs that are more fun to play live.

In Songs for Singles, a punk element is more noticeable with tracks like the opener "U.F.O." , it's follow up track "Lay Low", and "Cast Into Unknown". Songs for Singles is surprisingly diverse for its length, with a couple other songs this could be a great full length release. Then again, size doesn't matter, especially in the case of Songs for Singles. As a matter of fact, a few songs were cut from Songs for Singles because they were "too full" and lyric writing and performance was difficult, though it is speculated that those songs will appear, reworked, on the next studio album.

The albums final two, and longest, tracks are noticeably different from the rest of the album, which is a variable wonderland of tight, freak guitar and whirlwind drums (note: "Hideaway"). "Face the Wall" and "Out Again" open up and let the listener get into a trance rather than bang head. "Face the Wall" is a quick strummed echo-saturated doom track with the Torche touch. This song could have easily been ruined with growling lyrics, but Steve Brooks laid down a solid vocal track that, for the most part, is indecipherable. It is interesting to note that Brooks used a stream of consciousness approach to the lyrics on Songs for Singles, a la Atlas Sound. Brooks has said that the lyrics to Songs for Singles are "dreamlike" and "nonsensical".

"Out Again" closes the album with another wide open track you can lose yourself in. If the rest of the album were a city, than this is a desert, and as you can tell, I'm down with the desert. The last 4 minutes of the song is a repetition of the same riff where you get the opportunity to listen to everything that is going on. If you turn it up, the music engulfs you, kind of like Loveless with an edge.

Songs for Singles is a short, fun trip to rock town that should not be missed out on if you are a fan heavy music.The album is aggressive, but not pissed off or angsty. It's not really doom, it's not really metal, it's not really punk, it's not really sludge, it's Torche. Every once and a while there is a band like Torche where you can say something like that. If Meanderthal was their breakout, Songs for Singles is the whitehead that will hopefully make Torche pop everywhere. On a scale of "Loves it" to "Not so much", "I'd hit it". 

1. U.F.O. (1:53)
2. Lay Low (0:51)
3. Hideaway (2:03)
4. Arrowhead (2:17)
5. Shine On My Old Ways (1:49)
6. Cast Into Unknown (2:11)
7. Face the Wall (4:32)
8. Out Again (6:11)

Length - 21:47

http://www.torchemusic.com/

P.S. You might get a kick out of this. Here is what I assume is a scratch track of "U.F.O." with David Lee Roth's vocals from Van Halen's "Runnin' with the Devil" layered on top.