Solitude
Artist: Torn
(Canada)
Label: independent (available through http://www.ruggedcross.com)
Length: 9 tracks / 35:55 minutes
Finally. Those longing for more modern muscle rock in the vein of
Soundgarden, recent Metallica, Tool, Silverchair, and Creed have a new
album worthy of their attention. Torn's Solitude rings true, like
a collection of unpolished b-sides by those bands at one point or another
in their careers. Rock-solid drumming, growling bass, and double-barrelled
distortion fill the speakers with the maturity of a band that's been at
it for years. Pop sensibilities are there under the surface, but the mission
of Torn is to crank. Solitude is a noisy groove-monster catharsis,
fueled by Carter McLaughlin's songs of sorrow and seeking.
What takes Torn to the top level of its genre is McLaughlin's possession
of one of those metal-grunge voices quaking over with power and emotion.
He's good. Sure, it's been done already, but there's something about those
lung-powered sorrow-tinged vocals that makes grunge continue to hit a chord
with millions of people. Unfortunately, the other band members are only
temporary hires brought together to provide him an outlet to release music
and lyrics written during a period of homelessness and desperation in McLaughlin's
life. Although he now gives glory to God for bringing him out of that situation
and into a home and a relationship, Solitude draws its energy from
the unenjoyable emotions of that loneliness. Most notably, "Tree" is sung
from Christ's perspective on the cross, and "Cell" mourns:
Here I'll die in my darkened cell
Wishing I could fly away
In my sin I've been denied my wings
So this cell becomes my grave
Oh God, please help me
Free my soul
The album is not without weaknesses. The songs can seem to blend
together in their unrelenting aggression, until further listens, and some
of the vocals are irritatingly distorted on tracks near the end, so that
some of the lyrics are hard to make out. Also, many great ideas go undeveloped,
such as the powerful merger of chanting monks with a lurching riff on "Life,"
cut short after a disappointing minute and a half. This slackness in the
songwriting unfortunately limits the memorability of the songs after the
CD stops.
So, while the music is all-authentic in mood and overall sound, there's
much room for growth in the song construction. What a place to start from,
though....
by Josh Spencer (3/5/99)
