Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

For a band with just two proper full-lengths in eight years, Torche are a perpetual hot topic. Part of that’s our fault, but we like to think there are constant bursts of killer interstitial material (2007’s In Return EP, 2010’s Songs for Singles sorta-EP, last year’s split with Part Chimp, featuring three Guided by Voices covers) that make the hype less annoying. So, while the boys prep their latest release (an LP, we think) for Volcom this April, we’re happy to administer another get-you-by sludge-pop syringe in the form of our latest dB flexi.

Appearing in the March issue are two brand-new, never-before-heard Torche tracks: “Pow Wow” and “80’s Prom Song” (they fucked up the apostrophe, not us). If you’re one of the many who dig the pop rocks that Steve Brooks and co. have been crushing post-Floor, these buds are definitely for you. “Pow Wow” and “80’s Prom Song” were actually recorded during the Hydra Head sessions for Singles, but never used for some reason. Find out if they’re a bridge to the new material or simply two kickass jams that will make your iPod a less wrist-slitting shithole for a few minutes.

Check them out below, and then order a copy of the March issue with its hot pink and white plastic (you’re welcome) glory:

dB015 Torche Flexi Disc by Decibel Magazine

-AB

The March 2012 issue of Decibel, which also features Municipal Waste, Napalm Death, Cattle Decapitation, and an Overkill The Years of Decay Hall of Fame, is available for order here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss one of these awesome flexi discs?

In case my oh-so-witty headline didn’t give it away, Corrosion of Conformity are hitting the road for a U.S. headlining trek. I haven’t seen the reunited CoC, but I’ve heard some people say they’re great and some people say they’re not so great… I guess this will be my chance to finally find out.

Support on most dates is coming from Torche, Valient Thorr, and A Storm of Light, so that’s a pretty nifty line-up — regular MS readers will already be aware that we’ve very sweet on Valient Thorr. But the first show of the run, on January 22 in Asheville, NC, will have support from Hail!Hornet — okay whatevs — and a screening of Slow Southern Steel, the documentary about southern metal that CT from Rwake made. That could be pretty sweet, too.

Here are all the dates:

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As of late, I have been revisiting my love affair with the sublime tunage of St. Louis’ Riddle of Steel (RIP).

This power trio wrote fantastic, inspirational, feel-good yet edgy songs that each told their own unique melodic story, and it’s continually a pleasure to re-spin both of the two albums I have of theirs.  (UPDATE: just found out that there’s a 3rd full-length and an earlier EP as well, and I peed my pants a lil….Wingerschmidt Jr. got excited!)  Sounds vaguely like a heavier Trans Am meets Zeppelin meets The Police, but I’m hesitant to compare them to anything too much cuz the music is so nicely original and quality in its own right. Not to get bromantic or nuthin but I’m pretty sure RoS played at one of the first shows I ever went to with Vince Neilstein, at Lit Lounge right here in NYfC… Awwww :)

Sadly the band broke up in 2009, but their rockin, earnest singer/guitarist Andrew Elstner now plays in Torche and Tilts, drummer Rob Smith plays with Traindodge, Life & Times, Roma 79 and Bitch Wizard, and excellent bassist/vocalist Jimmy Vavak is busy being a dad (which also rocks). These guys are surely missed by many, what stellar hooky songwriters…

I couldn’t find any tracks on YouTube from their first full-length Python (my fave, it super kills), so you guys are just gonna have to buy that one, and it’s sooooo worth it.  That record features old drummer Dave Turncrantz, who shortly thereafter starting playing with Russian Circles.  Plenty more Riddle of Steel tunes on YouTube and TheirOldSpace.  Love love love this band!

-KW

Two big pieces of news dropped yesterday evening after the MS Mansion Monkeys had shuttered our gates for the day. Which label a band signs to might seem insignificant to some fans, but there’s actually a lot at stake; think of the way a label treats and nurtures a band as similar to how parents raise their children… it has a profound affect upon their future!

First, the Shads: We’re getting to the point where we’re starting to see record label fallout for the bands that comprised the original New Wave of American Heavy Metal of the early-mid ’00s. Things worked out quite nicely for Mastodon and Lamb of God, the two major label metal poster boys who seem to be sitting high and dry. Not everyone else was so fortunate: Killswitch Engage’s last record tanked, although I doubt Roadrunner will drop them just yet; Chimaira have had more labels than you can shake a drumstick at; and God Forbid signed with frickin’ Victory Records! And then there’s Shadows Fall, who tried the major label route, then tried the make-your-own-imprint-under-a-major’s-umbrella route, and now have signed with… Razor & Tie.

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If you’re immediately struck by MonstrO’s musical resemblance to Torche, don’t be: that’s ex-Torche guitarist Juan Montoya’s electro-fried “stoner pop” tones you’re hearing in the Atlanta quartet’s debut song “Anchors Up!”

And it sounds damn good, doesn’t it? I wasn’t among the Torche fanboys that endlessly bemoaned Montoya’s exit from the group in 2008, but there’s no question that Montoya was integral to Torche’s sound and the band hasn’t been the same since. Good news, then, that he’s formed a new band as his musical outlet with an equally compelling cast of characters: bassist Kyle Sanders (Skrew, Bloodsimple, brother of Mastodon’s Troy Sanders), drummer Bevan Davies (Danzig, Comes With the Fall), and vocalist and guitarist Charlie Suarez (Sunday Driver, no relation to Gary).

MonstrO have already recorded their self-titled debut with producer and Alice in Chains vocalist William DuVall, who was Bevan Davies’ bandmate in Madfly and Comes With the Fall. Expect it on September 6th via Vagrant Records.

-VN

After a long week of CMJ shenanigans, High on Fire rolled through New York City with Kylesa and Torche to rock Webster Hall’s cavernous main room on the night of Sunday, October 24th. Most of the MS crew was exhausted/hungover/sick/dead by the time Sunday rolled around, but not MS photographic squad queenpin Diana Lee Zadlo; she was there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to capture all the action with her lens. And hey, wouldn’t you know it, Matt Pike was wearing his favorite t-shirt!

See all the action after the stage dive.

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Torche are the latest metal band to be featured on Fox News’ Red Eye program, following in the footsteps of Gwar’s Oderus Urungus and Cobalt’s Phil McSorely. The difference between Torche and those dudes, though, is that Mike Huckabee — former governor of Arkansas, United States presidential candidate, and now self-proclaimed “doom metal expert” — didn’t endorse Gwar and Cobalt, or compare them to a tractor. Now THAT’S gotta be going on Torche’s album sticker, right?

And here’s the actual interview… it’s pretty amazing for a number of reasons, not least of all being I wasn’t aware they were allowed to say “sodomized” on Fox News unless they were referring to how they think that all homosexuals should burn in hell.

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I haven’t needlessly lumped self newly-released videos together in awhile, and these three clips were all released pretty much at once, so I figured, “Hey, why not?” After the jump, check out the latest audio-visual offerings from Torche, Helloween, Linkin Park, and Your Demise… plus my usual bullshit commentary, of course.

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‘Cause two excellent free samplers have been released within the last 24 hours:

• Good Fight have released a free sampler featuring songs from Cancer Bats, Son of Aurelius, The Contortionist, This or the Apocalypse, and more. None of the music is new, but if you’re not familiar with these bands, well, here’s your chance to become familiar with them, all for the the low low price of free. Get it here.
• Adult Swim and Scion A/V have also released a free sampler, and this one includes a new Withered song, “Extinguished with the Weary,” plus “rare or unreleased” tracks from Jesu, Skeletonwitch, Death Angel, Kylesa, Torche, Ludicra, and more. I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of it yet, but, again, it’s new or rare music from a bunch of awesome bands and it will cost only the energy it takes for you to click the “download” button, so go get it here.

-AR

Unless you count 2009′s Healer / Across the Shields EP (which contained two new songs), Songs for Singles is the first Torche record of the post Juan Montoya era. Need fans of 2008′s stoner-pop gem Meanderthal worry that the guitarist’s departure would affect the band’s sound? One listen to Songs for Singles, which is currently streaming in full on Torche’s MySpace page, should allay those fears.

Thankfully the thundering riffs, churning grooves and melodious refrains that made Meanderthal so great are still intact on Songs for Singles. At only 21 minutes long, the album’s 8 songs are mostly short and sweet with five of them at or just above the 2:00 mark and “Lay Low” coming in at just 0:51, the only exceptions being album closers “Face the Wall” — a slower, atmospheric number that’s real departure for the band — and the 6+ minute instrumental “Out Again.” There’s absolutely nothing not to like about this album; it’s exactly what you want from Torche, nothing more nothing less.

Songs for Singles comes out tomorrow. Stream it here. Catch ‘em on tour with High on Fire and Kylesa this fall; dates after the jump.

-VN

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Just in case you weren’t already feeling overwhelmed by all the new shit that’s streaming today, Stereogum has a new Torche track, “U.F.O.” I don’t really know what to say about it, other than it sounds like Torche, by which I mean it’s pretty fuzzy and really catchy, like an STD you’d get from sleeping with Alf. [Obligatory "Alf loved to eat pussy" joke here.]

Anyways, the good news is it’s only 1:53 long, so it won’t take too much time out of your day, which, like I said, is already being eaten away by lotsa other new stuff. The bad news is, it’s only 1:53 long, so like that time in junior high school that you finally convinced Sarah Lifshin to let you feel her up over her shirt, it’s gonna be over way too soon.

Check out the song here. “U.F.O.” will be on Torche’s latest, Songs for Singles, which comes out September 21 on Hyrda Head.

-AR

Here’s an album to be legitimately excited about in a 110% non-sarcastic way: Torche have announced a September 21 release date for their new album, Songs for Singles, via Hydra Head.

I’ve never been as over-the-moon about Torche as some, but only a person I strongly disagree with would ever say they’re  a bad band. And while we don’t have any new music to judge just yet, there is the minimalist album art, which suggests to me that this is going to be a very, very classy record. The font immediately made me think of Faith No More’s Songs to Make Love To, but the absence of humping rhinos means my mother will never ask me, “What the fuck is this?” (It’s also entirely possible that I just have FNM on the mind, since we’re seeing them tomorrow night.)

Hopefully we’ll get to hear some of this bad boy real soon, and we can have a more substantiative conversation about it at that point. In the meantime, get stoked!

-AR

Ever wonder where that sick band Torche came from?

At the heart of that crunchy uptempo feel-good Florida trio (once-quartet) is a man by the name of Steve Brooks on guitar and vocals, who also had a hand in creating another energetic & anthemic Florida stoner doom relic by the name of Floor.

Floor went through several lineup changes through its on again-off again tempestuous run from 1992 to 2004, but the constant of Brooks kept the sound grounded (mostly) in a pretty distinguishable style that puts the vigorously vibrant energy of each song in the foreground and drops hooks aplenty.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, Floor got a hell of a lot sludgier and heavier than Torche typically does.

The band has reunited for a few shows in support of their recently-released massively-sized box set, pictured below (ten 12″ LPs, one 7″ EP, 8 CDs, 32-page booklet…..take that, LoG!) called Below and Beyond, which you can order right here.

They played Chicago last Tuesday and Philly last night (sorry for the late notice!), and are going to rock the fuck out of Brooklyn tonight at Club Europa…

Visit Floor on OurSpace

-KW

Photo credit: EmpyreLounge.com

My interview with Coheed & Cambria guitarist Travis Stever got off to a bit of a slow start. I believe I was his first interview of the morning in a long line of many, and he was audibly a bit groggy after a rough night of sleep on the bus. But after a few questions Stever got into the flow of things, and started talking at length about his band’s new record Year of the Black Rainbow, their current tour with Circa Survive and Torche, working with ex-Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie, the Neverender series of shows and the thrill of playing Madison Square Garden.

We only had fifteen minutes to talk before Stever was whisked away to his next interview, but we got plenty accomplished in that time. Our chat, after the jump.

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Check out this time-lapse video of artist Esao Andrews painting the cover of Circa Survive’s forthcoming album Blue Sky Noise. My missive against the relevance of album art be damned, this is pretty fucking cool. Many of you will immediately write this band off because of the way their vocalist sounds, and many of you will will (rightly) declare they aren’t metal… but hey, fuck you, it’s my website!

Blue Sky Noise comes out on 4/20. You can catch Circa Survive on tour with Coheed & Cambria and Torche this Spring.

-VN

I always really dig tours that match together a bunch of bands who don’t really fit into any one scene. When these kinds of bands are awkwardly placed on bills with a bunch of bands that don’t sound like them the end result is that die-hard fans of said bands don’t bother attending and those who do attend are completely uninterested. A great example of this phenomenon is the way Protest the Hero toured with one shit band after the next in support of Fortress; it wasn’t until they capped the album cycle with a headline run that I finally got to see them live.

Check out this recently announced Spring tour that groups together a bunch of such individual-minded bands: Coheed & Cambria, Torche and Circa Survive. How cool is that? All these bands sound totally different from one another but they’re united in their unwillingness to fit into any one scene. It’s a perfect fit, and for a change anyone that goes to see one specific band will probably end up digging the others too.

Coheed & Cambria and Circa Survive will both have new albums to promote, and while Torche won’t have anything new (that I’m aware of) it’ll be a great opportunity for them to spread their wings outside of their indie-metal centric fanbase. Have a look at the full list of dates after the jump.

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No, that’s not a reference to Steve Brooks’s sexual preferences. But it is the title of a new Torche song, the first they’ve recorded since guitarist Juan Montoya’s departure from the band in late 2008. The genetic makeup of the band isn’t the only way in which Torche are different today than they were on Meanderthal; “King Beef,” which the good folks at The Deciblog are premiering at the moment, is darker in tone, heavier, and way more experimental than anything on that album. “Stoner pop” no more…

We at MetalSucks don’t have nearly the undiscriminating boner for the band that Decibel does, and I certainly don’t think this band deserves all of the OH MY GOD TORCHE priase they seem to get (much like, ahem, Converge). But they’re definitely a good band; in fact, Meanderthal nabbed an honorable mention on my own Best of 2008 list. I hope Torche’s next record is as good as Meanderthal, but if “King Beef” is any indication it’s gonna be a totally different beast. And as well it should be; when I saw Torche live as a 3 piece it was clear that those songs — penned for two guitarist — just didn’t work as well without Montoya.

“King Beef” is taken from Torche’s upcoming split 10-inch with Boris, due out on Hydra Head in February. Hydra Head bossman Mark Thompson says a Torche full-length will follow in June.

-VN

Torche – King Beef from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

From time to time in the past we’ve exchanged e-mails with The Austerity Program‘s Justin Foley, and the dude’s e-mails were so goddamn funny (not to mention smart) that we finally asked him to write for us. Hopefully Justin’s contributions to MetalSucks will become a regular, or at least semi-regular, occurrence. Enjoy!

MORE COMPLAINTS ABOUT THAT BAD VILLAGE VOICE THING. I KNOW, IT’S BEST TO IGNORE THESE THINGS BUT I JUST CAN’T THIS TIME.

“O Confusion! Cruel mistress – thou who would lead thine servants to slaughter like a lamb also gets led (Ed – to slaughter). Cruel! Innocent lambs, gently editing metal blogs, knowing not of your unkind plans nor the wicked scroll of fate.” Henry VI, Act 4

Like many of you jokers, I was struck with a growing sadness as I read the nonsense that that nice Wingerschmidt boy posted the other day. Sadness because it really missed the main point about the Voice’s article –a refreshingly pure distillation of concentrated bullshit. Fortunately, I didn’t miss it and neither did many of those who commented. But just in case there’s any doubt, let me tell you why that Voice writer has it so, so wrong.

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Now I’m not saying I agree with all, most, or even any of the points made in Stewert Voegtlin’s recent bitter-tastic Village Voice article (aptly entitled “Sketchy Metal”), but holy jeez a voice of dissension should be appreciated, welcome, and even necessary at times, especially when certain bands are so blindly revered by so many…..and furthermore anybody who can bring such a well-worded subtly sardonic taste to their Hateology (free album title!) a la our own Gary Suarez deserves a complimentary bong hit.

The article starts out with an analysis on Pelican’s sound (or lack thereof), positing that the Chicago band’s thang never crystallizes into anything approaching authentic emotion, but that some bands that Pelican derives influence from (Trans Am, in particular) have made plenty of music worth veneration, especially back in the day.  Hmm……agreed.

I almost joined the Train of Descent (free band name!) recently myself when I was considering writing an article — which was to be called MASTODON EVOLVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THEIR SOUND ON CRACK THE SKYE….EXCEPT FOR THE LYRICS – about the many cliches held within several of the lyrics on Crack the Skye. However, after listening to the album a few more times to get a clearer context of the lyrics to the piece as a whole, I cleaned my shorts off and reconsidered libeling the best modern progressive metal band of the decade.

But Voegtlin? This guy ain’t takin no prisoners (pls disregard double negative)……my favorite gem of haterade enclosed within the article definitely has to be Voegtlin’s response to Baroness’ John Baizley’s claim that his band’s music is influenced by “fine art, cinema, and literature”:

[This is] as stiltedly silly as name-dropping higher mathematics, physics, or philosophy, when what the band really peddles is exactly the everything-and-nothing Hallmark heft so many claim to uncover in Pelican’s wordless, aimless songs. While Baizely’s predilection to hawk such High Times erudition makes him sound more puerile than he likely is, it’s difficult to imagine him honestly striving to disseminate meta-emotional discourse through music as transparently commercial as his band’s stoner-metal-meets-Ford-truck-jingle approach.

Yowza!!

More insightful dissin’ and the link to the actual article afterthejump.

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On Sunday night we caught the Beard Destroyer 2009 tour with Hull and Batillus (sadly for us, Salome didn’t play that date). It crushed even harder than we thought it would, so we asked our friend, Batillus skinsman Geoff Summers, to do a tour wrap-up for us. We hope you enjoy!

So, here I sit with a mild case of PTD (post-tour depression) writing up this wrap report for the so-called Beard Destroyer tour featuring Salome, Hull, and my band, Batillus. We had some good times, and we had some bad times. It rained. A lot. Everywhere we went. Fortunately, though, the good dwarfed the bad. Let’s recap…

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