FOE: Torche "Restarter" LP

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Torche "Restarter" LP

TORCHE

"Restarter"

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Released: February 24, 2015

If you don't have Torche's "Meanderthal" LP from 2008, quick, go get that record. "Meanderthal" is one of my go to records. I have listened to the song "Healer" from that album several hundred times. I will probably go back and listen to "Healer" another dozen times, really loud, now that I have reminded myself how much I love that song. Like an addict reintroduced.

View the video for yourself on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHjGLDY3ws

OK, now that we have that out of the way.

As with anything Torche, I put my pre-order in as soon as I found out about "Restarter". I look forward to Torche's records, they have always been great, a pleasure to listen to and their vinyl pressings/cover artwork are something to behold. I have to thank Jamie at Double Decker Records for introducing me to the heavy and melodic Torche.

Being a very tactile person, a phrase which here means "either loving or hating the sense of touch", I am overloaded by this release.

tactile

(ˈtæktaɪl)

adj

1. (Biology) of, relating to, affecting, or having a sense of touch: a tactile organ; tactile stimuli.

2. capable of being touched; tangible

I purchased the glow in the dark, gatefold, 2XLP version that also came with Torche sunglasses, satisfying my tactile fascination in many ways. The LP cover also has the feeling of textured wallpaper. I was taken back to my youth when I had a wallpaper sample book. Why we had that in my house, I don't know. Thinking back, it probably was one of the many things that messed me up. So this LP cover took me back 45 years or so. By the way, I freaking hate anything made of fleece and any material that has static electricity. Tactile insanity.

Continuing on with the tactile relationship, Torche is musically down-tuned, AADGBE, or so I have been told. The results are earth rumbling. So, obviously I love turning "Restarter" up. The feedback in some of the songs also has me "feeling" the music. One of my cohorts, a word which here means "abettor" or "accomplice" in Up To No Good Radio, Mr. Johnny Generic, would say this music makes his bowels move. Certain tones have this impact on him.

Heavy, hypnotic and melodic, Torche continue to create songs that take the listener out of their situation, both physically and mentally. You can see it, feel it, touch it and be mentally moved by Torche's "Restarter". The song "Barrier Hammer" could probably bring down a building.