Torch Runner - Committed To The Ground (2012)

Greensboro, NC crust champions Torch Runner dropped this, their first LP, in 2012, making an impression on the Southeastern hardcore community. While it is a ferocious work of energy and aggression, Committed To The Ground is a criminally underrated album, as Torch Runner has never received the attention that they deserve for the incredible creative works that they consistently put out.

Artwork: This is one of my favorite album covers, for its simplicity and its execution.  Marissa Zarrabzadeh's work here defines Torch Runner visually - an overall simple design made of intricately fashioned parts, woven together seamlessly into an awe-inspiring display of both imagination and creative ability. The feel of this cover is the feel of the album - grey, vaguely threatening while radiating an intriguing beauty that is all its own.

Structure: Committed... is simply 12 songs, barely over 22 minutes in total. The tracks are short, with many under the 1 minute mark. If your job is 20 minutes away and you have to be there at 7AM, you need this record.

Sound: Recorded at Legitimate Business studio in Greensboro, Committed To The Ground embodies "crust" in every sense while raising the bar for production values in the genre. Torch Runner sounds like any number of powerviolence bands combined with the metal edge of Nails or Black Mask and given a +5 bonus to Intellect. Bands like Weekend Nachos and Blistered plow through hardcore mosh anthem after anthem, but only occasionally do I get the impression that real work or artistic talent was put into crafting the songs. Torch Runner acts with calculated precision, here and on every other release, having honed their abilities into a monstrously inspiring force unique to itself.

Lyrics: Rob Turner's largely unintelligible roar contains some surprisingly eloquent verse. While most bands in the crust/punk arena tend toward hyper-simplified message-driven sermons about social issues or political ideas, Torch Runner wrestles with the concept of a person choosing to stray from the herd and forge their own path, and how doing so is a conscious decision that sets them apart from the world around them. Committed To The Ground is a record you can either put on and rage to, or sit down with and dissect.

For Fans Of: Cursed, Black Mask, Narratives

Favorite Lyrics: "committed to the ground for the sake of the life it has given me... the life that is given is the same that i will return... what once represented an unending fear now serves as my proudest truth - my complete nothingness. i am committed to the ground."

Favorite Track: Harrow

1. Current
2. Incendiary
3. Feeding
4. Canon Cast
5. Clocked In
6. Committed To The Ground
7. Rede
8. Harrow
9. The Holy Are The Broken
10. Tolled
11. Pulpit Plague
12. Vestige

Rating: 8 / 10

Merch: Headfirst Records // bandcamp
Listen: bandcamp
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