A Year of Music

Nobody told Torche that stoner metal’s never going to make the top 40, no matter how huge the sound, or impassioned the vocals, or tightly-wound the songwriting. This is metal geared for AM radios and huge arena crowds, and I can only hope they pull it off, although I already know in my heart they won’t. They’re neither troubled nor insincere enough to go huge with today’s audiences.

There is absolutely no flab to any of In Return’s 7 short songs, and while there’s nothing as instantaneously perfect as “Erase” from their debut album, with its amazing and perfectly placed string-bombs (I swear, that song makes me feel like a kid again), Torche finally appear to have gotten a grasp on their sound, and this is as pure and clean a pop-metal EP as I’ve ever heard. The music is as immaculate and gorgeous as the packaging.

In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I had to investigate one of Andee’s claims, and after a quick experiment I can confirm that playing the vinyl for In Return at 45 does bring into existence something that sounds remarkably like a mutant, grind-punk version of Queen. The solos, in particular, become totally face-melting, but somehow the doomier parts still sound pretty heavy. Curious.