3 out of 5

Label: Relapse

Produced by: Jonathan Nuñez

I am amused by when bands sign to Relapse – what I would generally consider a pretty “extreme” metal / hardcore label – and become comparatively poppy. That’s therefore a wrong summary of Relapse, but I can’t shake my impression from stocking their back catalogue at music shops. And this impression forms kind of the amused / puzzled reaction I have to Torche, whose signing to the imprint heralded their becoming the most accessible of the big name sludge rock groups… and also, like, the most milquetoast, and no, those descriptions absolutely do not have to be one and the same.

This is just a band I just can’t say I “get,” and which makes me become the haughty asshat in the room wondering how much music in this vein its fans have actually listened to, because I can’t quite discern one stand-out factor that lasts beyond the fleeting, from the fill-in-the-blank lyrics (from the closing, title track: “Our leaders are / Done with conversations” – sole lyric; that being about as deep as it goes), to Steve Brooks completely unremarkable vocals, to Jonathan Nunez’s, on this record, flat production – saved at points by Kurt Ballou’s mix – to the bog-standard keep-the-pace beat throughout. At moments, the group ups the meter and rocks out, and that’s where I can get a feel for the appeal a bit: a heavy-ass pop rock band; something that had a moment in the early 00s with QOTSA and some Touch and Go acts hitting it big. I’d still say Torche is pretty unremarkable due to an overall sound lacking in peaks – it’s generally one level for any given song – but given that I feel the same about a lot of mainstream production / tracks (again: haughty asshat), we can circle back around to me just not getting it.

…Saying that, though, should only get me so far, as I do think I have some ability to be objective, and ‘Restarter’ is a mostly cut-and-dry, unvarying listen, regardless of how heavy you’d classify it. I knock Brooks, but his consistency is appreciated – there’s a reliability to his passion – and the simplistic lyrics offer an anthemic vibe that syncs with that, and I do not mean for my dismissiveness to suggest there’s a lack of talent: all our players are rocking out, and though the tracks rarely offer surprises (which, again, can be a plus, depending on what you’re looking for), there’s not a moment I would say I’m bored or tuned out. I’m just, y’know, unmoved.