Originally released exclusively on vinyl a couple of years ago, Committed To The Ground sees a broader re-release via the hooded folks at Southern Lord, who themselves continue their commitment to unearthing as much crust from below the Earth’s surface as possible.
When Torch Runner aren’t buzzsaw-ing ears with a sound akin to rapid-fire Converge colliding with the more straightforward punkish grind of Dead In The Dirt, Call Of The Void and Combatwoundedveteran, they’re doing it with lumbering slabs of colossal tectonics on the lengthy likes of The Holy Are Broken and the title track.
The sleuths among you will notice that the drawn-out sludge songs possess longer songtitles while the short sharp potent blasts of tar-thick grind like Rede, Incendiary and Feeding are appropriately named. It’s likely a non-deliberate move on their part, but such an observation does act as a looking glass into Torch Runner’s sense of the obvious and ordinary as their balance of ripping excitement is offset with too much of what’s been done many times previously unfortunately executed without offering a voice of their own.
