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New philly band! ripping, frenzied and frantic hc punk
Our take: This new Philadelphia hardcore band features some impressive players, including Chuck Meehan of YDI’s classic A Place in the Sun EP on bass and Aaron from Haldol and Blank Spell on drums (apologies to the other members, whose resumes I don’t know as well). I knew going in that the playing here would be excellent, but I was stoked to hear that Soft Torture’s stock in trade is the rhythmically knotty hardcore that I love. The crazy rhythms are the star of the show here, reminding me of virtuosic yet fringe groups such as the early versions of the Tar Babies, Die Kreuzen, and Meat Puppets, all of whom took a vast knowledge of and capability with music and crammed it into 90-second chunks delivered at a dead sprint. As with those bands, Soft Torture is exhilarating, making the listener feel like a pinball slammed around the board quicker than your eye can follow. Jess Nicho’s paranoid vocals are an added treat, particularly if you enjoy more recent purveyors of this high-speed spazz attack like Warm Bodies and Das Drip. Oh yeah, and “2021” is a cover / update of YDI’s “1983.” Totally scorching.
Our take: This new Philadelphia hardcore band features some impressive players, including Chuck Meehan of YDI’s classic A Place in the Sun EP on bass and Aaron from Haldol and Blank Spell on drums (apologies to the other members, whose resumes I don’t know as well). I knew going in that the playing here would be excellent, but I was stoked to hear that Soft Torture’s stock in trade is the rhythmically knotty hardcore that I love. The crazy rhythms are the star of the show here, reminding me of virtuosic yet fringe groups such as the early versions of the Tar Babies, Die Kreuzen, and Meat Puppets, all of whom took a vast knowledge of and capability with music and crammed it into 90-second chunks delivered at a dead sprint. As with those bands, Soft Torture is exhilarating, making the listener feel like a pinball slammed around the board quicker than your eye can follow. Jess Nicho’s paranoid vocals are an added treat, particularly if you enjoy more recent purveyors of this high-speed spazz attack like Warm Bodies and Das Drip. Oh yeah, and “2021” is a cover / update of YDI’s “1983.” Totally scorching.