Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Jordan A. Baker
Source: www.pastepunk.com
We'll carry the torch you fucking dropped. I'm getting old but that's no reason to stop - KID DYNAMITE "PH Decontrol." Even if I had never bothered to listen to CARRY THE TORCH's EP Dead Weather, I'd recommend it on the mere fact that every time I think of the band's name, it conjures up warm and fuzzy thoughts about KID DYNAMITE. However, I did in fact listen to Dead Weather and that was a wise decision. Hailing from Sacramento, California, CARRY THE TORCH involve themselves in a form of intricate hardcore in the nature of SHAI HULUD, STRONGARM, early HOPESFALL or HASTE (anyone remember them?). At roughly 12 minutes, Dead Weather is quick-to-finish, but the band's heaviness is immediate and the threading of atmospheric guitars in an otherwise hurtling sound is the stuff that makes people stop and take notice. A lot could have gone wrong with the lead vocals to Dead Weather. Many bands have waded into this style with something between indecipherable and squawking madness, but lead singer Brian North places his bet with a swift, shouted delivery that feels like it could tear the paint from walls. The four songs to Dead Weather are fine for an introductory taste - bring on the big meal.
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: John-Michael Bond
Source: www.mammothpress.com
As much as I love American Nightmare it’s refreshing to review a record from a hardcore band that sounds like they own albums other than Background Music. Sacramento’s Carry the Torch is one of the most pleasant surprises to fall into my mailbox in a long time. Their debut EP Dead Weather features a stunningly advanced sound for a band so early in their career that throws back to the days when band’s weren’t ashamed to admit they listened to bands outside of the genre. Like Shai Hulud and Hopesfall (well Hopesfall before A-Types) before them Carry the Torch mix equal levels of melodic punk, Hum styled fuzz outs and deeply emotional lyrics to make something the scene is currently missing; hardcore that is both self-deprecating and pissed off all hell. Front man Brian North has a yell that’s easy to understand without ever sacrificing an ounce brutality. In fact it’s North’s vocal and lyrical performance that shines through this EP’s admittedly thin recording. The crushing musical and lyrical breakdown in “For All I Care It Can Burn” features the album’s clearest line and message. "End Transmission / Please just walk away / Trust me, I'm not worth it / Please just walk away." It’s hard to find music that makes you want to destroy shit and think about your life, but Carry the Torch has delivered just that. Here’s hoping their full length lives up to the quality found here.
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Nick Scandy
Source: www.lambgoat.com
Sacramento's Carry the Torch is a pleasant surprise in the hardcore and metal scene. With their debut EP, Dead Weather, the band combines a strong love of Shai Hulud with some of the raw melody of The Frailty of Words-era Hopesfall and the emotional lyrics of Poison the Well. And even though it's a little rough around the edges, the memorable songwriting and sincere execution make it a very promising start for a young band.
Advertising four tracks, Dead Weather is packed with excellent melodic guitar leads, straightforward but capable drumming, and honest lyrics. "Separating the Genus" turns into an up-tempo hardcore anthem after a slower intro, with vocalist Brian North delivering lines like, "Where did it go? When did conviction die? Someone tell me." The lyrics tend to be more personal than Shai Hulud's misanthropic ramblings, but the delivery is admirable and the emotion is believable. "Circuitry" offers up a healthy dose of metallic riffing in the vein of what Parallax accomplished with their recent success of a modern metalcore disc in Mediums & Messages. "For All I Care It Can Burn" provides even more variation, standing out because of a subdued melodic interlude and the disc's most recognizable vocal line, "End Transmission / Please just walk away / Trust me, I'm not worth it / Please just walk away." Even at just fifteen minutes in length, Dead Weather manages to explore a number of different songwriting elements, making the EP an engaging debut.
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Blake Solomon
Source: www.absolutepunk.net
Who?
Carry The Torch should be familiar in that they don’t do anything too crazy. Yet. Fast hardcore ain’t exactly the most underground of genres anymore (especially if you pay attention to the lyrics in “Separating The Genus”). But with just enough metallic guitar shreds and excellently-timed breakdowns, Carry The Torch could be a name you’ll be seeing much more frequently. Or my name isn’t Reginald Jenkins.
How Is It?
Pretty redeeming for being only 4 songs, Dead Weather will fill your belly with angst and have you pooping out aggression in no time. (It’s more pleasant than it sounds, trust me.) “Separating The Genus” is a slap to my face because of its less than positive outlook on advertising. (I need a new major if I’m going to work at AP). Despite differing outlooks, “Genus” still stampedes with enough force to make it one hell of a song. The melodic chorus is a nice counterpart to screechy, mathy verses - so far so good. However, all bets are off during “For All I Care It Can Burn.” The song begins with heavy guitars while dancing with the metalcore devil. Brian North is the gas in Carry The Torch’s tank, both lyrically and vocally. He somehow sounds like he’s one cig away from death, yet the listener can still discern most of what he's screaming. And boy does he have a message. During the drum solo of “Burn,” which becomes overtaken by a high-pitched, 80’s metal guitar riff, North muses, “Take these words with a grain of salt / Tomorrow I’ll forget everything / Am I the plane crash / Or just the aftermath?” This song truly knocked me back. The twists and turns contained in “Burn’s” tight frame could fill an entire album for Carry The Torch. Once the band fully realize their awesome ability to mix metalcore with hardcore, all while only sparsely using chugalicious, head-banging riffs, CTT will be good to go.
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Andrew Haak
Source: www.geekburger.com
Dead Weather is the four-song, debut EP from Sacramento, California's Carry the Torch. Having never heard of the band prior to getting my hands on this brief record, I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by musically inclined, subtly catchy melodic hardcore, rife with splashes of Shai Hulud and smatterings of Hopesfall. Like those bands, Carry the Torch weaves intricate, melodic guitar leads, atmospheric picking sequences and melodic chord progressions into a rather heavy base of chunky, hard-edged hardcore, and does so with grace and finesse. The band also proves unafraid to change the tempo multiple times within each three- or four-minute song, which, in combination with the varied guitar parts, makes for a fairly dynamic hardcore album. While singer Brian North doesn't pull any vocal punches, sticking to forceful mid-ranged screaming and shouting, I'm more than happy that he provides the power and lets the guitars handle the melody. Carry the Torch already has a good handle on writing consistent, cheese-free songs. And since there's not exactly an overabundance of this stuff out there, I'm most definitely anticipating more material from them. Keep it up.
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Brian
Source: www.punknews.org
Any press materials you happen to stumble across for Carry the Torch's Dead Weather EP are probably pretty accurate. While the band suffers from a somewhat thin recording, Carry the Torch are rescued by their own musical chops and cool hardcore style. Clearly taking cues from acts like Strongarm and Shai Hulud, there's a solid combination here of aggressive yet comprehensible vocals and guitars that transition their tones from sanguine to downbeat and back again multiple times.
Opener "Separating the Genius" is a smooth example of all this, as singer Brian North questions the listener "did you forget or did you never know?" in a scratchy yell. Through a fluid display of versatile guitar work, the song eventually finds itself dipping into a well-integrated, hardly overbearing breakdown. There's a moment in "Circuitry" where the band drops out a bit and leaves North sincerely screaming "I thought it would fall into place / I thought I would stop questioning but I can't" over a minimal arrangement, and you're left wondering how stunning it would be had Carry the Torch been fortunate enough to get someone like Brian McTernan or Kurt Ballou at the helms. The band's melodic reach turns out a questionable moment with the Disney meets Dragonforce-esque guitar riffs in "For All I Care It Can Burn," but the band is usually successful in such endeavors.
As far as Detonate Records' bands go, the Sacramento act seems perhaps the label's most overlooked. Is the radar so above Carry the Torch that the weather really is dead? Let's hope not
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Carry The Torch – Dead Weather EP
Record Label: Detonate Records
Reviewed by: Isaac
Source: www.saveyourscene.com
These guys hail from Sacramento, California, They play a style sure not over crowded today, which reminds me of early Shai Hulud, Strongarm and old Stretch Armstrong.
They prefer mid tempos and have incredibly nice melodies, some breakdowns (not the chugga-chugga ones though), they also have a singer with a passionate and intense voice I have to admit.
This is their debut release but they’ve already done 2 US tours and plan some more. Not bad I’d say. They also have to offer some meaningful lyrics and a nice artwork. I don’t know how objective I can because this style is probably my favorite but I doubt someone that like nineties hardcore wouldn’t like this release.
If you miss bands like Strongarm and “Compassion..” era SAS you should check this out. |
