Torch Runner - Endless Nothing (2014)

Greensboro, NC crust champions Torch Runner have managed to follow up 2012's Committed to the Ground with an even more monstrously gnarly crusher of an album. Everything that made Committed... great is here - the warm tube tone brimming with life, the consistent juggernaut drumming, memorable riffs upon memorable riffs, and lyrics that stick with the listener long after the song is over - but Endless... brings these elements to the table with new tenacity and vigor, creating a unique musical work that deserves a place among the great heavy records of the 2010's.

Artwork: The overall presentation of this record is eerily similar to Torch Runner's previous record, Committed to the Ground, with its circular/cyclical imagery shown in dark, organic tones. This record cover shows Torch Runner's at-times unconventional approach to their grimy craft - maybe not typical, but always highly effective.

Structure: Endless... is 13 songs that hover around 1:30 in length, besides the eighth track, which reaches boldly to the 4:00 minute mark with a consistently dirgy headbanger's dream. It plays like a straight-forward crust/grind album, plain and simple.

Sound: The crusty grind brought forth on Committed... continues full-force here, with some subtle adjustments that seem to point toward Torch Runner maturing as a band. This record sounds absolutely killer - Legitimate Business studio at its best, as always. The production on this record is a touch less harsh than on Committed... which works in the record's favor. Every minute detail of every track is detectable, even if they are flying by a breakneck speed.

Lyrics: Rob Turner returns here with the same grace and intention found on Committed... speaking of internal unrest and the struggle against nihilistic and existential thoughts. Torch Runner always has a point to make, even if it will only take 30 seconds to make it.

For Fans Of: Cursed, Neurosis, Thou

Favorite Lyrics: "we walk above our shallow graves without fear or hope. treading unbroken with no sorrow - it died with our gods. having no purpose, because we have rejected our world. standing or fallen, there is only tomorrow. unwavering and endless."

Favorite Track: Congregation

1. Attrition
2. Bound By Misery
3. Congregation
4. Circuition
5. Godlust
6. Rebirth
7. Calloused Mind
8. Circle of Shit
9. Wordless
10. Endless Nothing
11. ALEL
12. All We Have
13. Unspoken

Rating: 9 / 10 

Merch: Headfirst Records
Listen: Bandcamp
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