#01 | Torche

Title: Meanderthal

Label: Hydra Head

Hold on, are we at Decibel really deciding the best metal record of the year is the one that occasionally sounds like Foo Fighters? How the fuck did that happen? Well put down the severed pig’s head and we’ll explain. Sure, there are, oh, roughly 39 albums of note in ’08 that didn’t set up camp in post-grunge territory. But when an album like Meanderthal drops, the other slabs of sweet headbangery seem a tad irrelevant.

From the angelic choir opening of “Triumph of Venus” to the churning, hideous close of the title track, Torche are a band that don’t write songs like anyone else. Sure, guitarist/vocalist Steve Brooks and guitarist Juan Montoya’s backgrounds in Floor and Cavity are noticeable in the doom-tuned sounds of their guitars. And Helmet’s inner-city noise-rock mixed with Tad’s backwoods psychedelia are undeniable. But Meanderthal is much more than the sum of their influences. Torche don’t juxtapose melody with atomic chords; the melodies themselves decimate, the intertwining harmonies are what boil your blood. This isn’t a seamless combination of genres, but a whole new beast built from the DNA up. That is why this record was the overwhelming favorite around here and Montoya, while mentioning that he reads Decibel every month due to our complete and total ruling, is taking it all in stride.

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