Slowtorch and the Radiation They Came From
A four-song EP that’s in and out in under 14 minutes, Slowtorch‘s self-released From Radiation They Came shows the burly Balzano, Italy rockers performing with conviction the kind of straightforward biker metal that a more commercially-minded C.O.C. might come up with. The songs are short bursts of accented energy marked by the catchy riffing of Bruno Bassi and the throaty vocals of Peter Tomasi — they ask little and deliver less outright sleaze than the car/lady intercourse on the unfinished-looking cover might suggest. An unshowy rhythm section in drummer Andrea Masetti and bassist Karl Sandner drives a track like “Drake Brute” forward without putting too much of itself out there, but gets the job done nonetheless.
Not that I’d be able to do any better in their native language, but the titles of the songs — “Hillbilly,” “Piledriver,” “Drake Brute” and “Hellboozer,” respectively — should give some indication of where the lyrics are coming from. Tomasi sings his gruff parts from the bottom of his mouth and offers some surprising screams on “Piledriver,” but otherwise it’s more or less a standard “stoner” delivery that comes and goes from the songs a little high in the mix but not tragically so. The thing is, with songs this rudimentary and bare bones structure-wise, there isn’t much of a chance to get to know Slowtorch on From Radiation They Came. The EP is done before you know it. Whether their 2007 full-length Adding Fuel to Fire follows the same kind of ethic, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it offered more substance on terms of its length alone.
Once known as the more metallic Godmachine and veterans of opening slots for the likes of Toner Low and Colour Haze, Slowtorch are less purely stoner rock than their countrymen in the desert-bent Black Rainbows or Underdogs, and though From Radiation They Came is barely a palette cleanser when it comes to actually listening and getting to know the band, it’s heavy rock. Approached with an understanding of what’s going on, its paint by numbers genericism almost — not quite, well maybe — gets a pass. As much as I support the growing Italian scene in general, I’m ambivalent as to whether Slowtorch are doing much to move it forward aesthetically or creatively. Still, anyone craving a dose of uncomplicated heaviness might be doing themselves a favor in checking out their MySpace. Even if you come out of it feeling like you wasted your time, you won’t have wasted much of it.
Tags: Italy, Slowtorch, Unsigned bands
