Some things are over as quickly as they began. Or so they seem. Like a great day that just goes by too quickly, I find myself staring at the screen repeatedly, wondering how long its actually been since I hit play on Torch Runner's latest dynamite display Endless Nothing. And at the volatile speed this movies at, it's anything but endless.
Torch Runner hails out of Greensboro, NC and has been around for seven years now. Not content to push out record after record, the band's discography boasts only three EPs (one a split with Young and in the Way) and a single full length entitled Committed to the Ground (To Live a Lie, 2012). Now signed to Southern Lord Records (one of the best record labels you should absolutely follow), Torch Runner bring forward their most intense record yet. An amalgam of furious noise and fire salts.
Those that have heard previous records know what they're in store for: grinding crust, metallic hardcore—just all around pure, sustained, writhing energy. And their previous records have had this focus, this ire. A push that has gone to shove to swing to waffle stomp. Revisiting the previous material showcases this escalating progression of aggression. Endless Nothing is the band cranking it up to eleven.
Once the record kicks on so does the “no mercy” button. “Attrition” screeches in, thick and heavy before finally blasting. It's like watching a demolitions crew set up. From here the record moves so fast and trasitions from song to song so quickly its difficult to remember what's what, who's who and what goes where. The common denominator with grind/crust bands are that they play exactly to their genre's liking: short, fast, loud. The difference between songs is the burrs on the shrapnel.
Endless Nothing does have variety in it beyond its abrasive, blasting nature. One of the most standout, and my personal favorite, track is “Circle of Shit,” a trudging, oozing four-minute slaughter of screeching guitars and thumping base. The sludgiest and most filthy track on the album (name aside). It's also the perfect track to break up the noise of the record. Almost like something that's left to let you collect yourself before Torch Runner launch into the final stretch.
There's nothing groundbreaking about this. Know that right now before you possibly walk into Endless Nothing thinking it has rewritten the apocalypse. No. But it has read the book and knows the score. Torch Runner is a band that can keep the pace with stalwarts like New Lows or Nails. Whether or not they could surpass them remains to be seen. They possess the ability. Torch Runner have excellent structure that cuts straight to the marrow. And if they ever wanted to take up a sludge or doom record, they could pull it off.
In the end, Torch Runner has summed up their album better than I could:
“We all feel like we are really hitting our stride with the songs on this record. We've been a band for seven years now, and everything we're writing is stronger than ever. This is the fastest record that we've written without a doubt.”
Hell yeah you are, and hell yeah it is.
