ALBUM REVIEW: Solace – Torchbearer

London-based bruisers TORCHBEARER have taken six years to release their debut full-length. Formed in 2016, they have a few EPs to their name already, but – as we’ll get to later – the past 18 months or so have been particularly hard and bleak for the band. Now, they’ve poured those struggles into Solace, delivering ten tracks of aggression, catharsis and powerful defiance. Like their previous records, the band have chosen to self-release this album, their DIY spirit remaining proudly unbent and unbroken. The results often hark back to the early 00s, when the lines between metal and hardcore really began to blur; if you like bands like LAMB OF GOD, HATEBREED or PANTERA then you’d be silly to miss this one.

TORCHBEARER are quick to hit listeners with both barrels of what they have to offer with Solace’s opening title track. A brief acoustic intro kicks things off before the band come thundering in with a crushing, head-banging groove. It’s only an appetiser really, with the track’s sub-90-second runtime soon giving way to the raging lead single Frostbite. This one lays out more of what we can expect from the record to come, marrying a hardcore raucousness with no-nonsense groove metal-esque riffing. Listeners don’t get much respite from here, with the riffs coming thick and fast as the album goes on. It’s hard to pick highlights, but the back-to-back pairing of Psychosis and Mekong Delta Blues definitely does a lot to leave necks weak and wobbly.

While the music itself hits hard enough, one thing that really adds weight to Solace is its lyrical content. TORCHBEARER are unflinching in their outlook on life here, exploring bleak realities on both a personal and a political level. This comes to the fore perhaps most obviously on recent single Never Forgive. It’s here where the personal and the political intertwine, with the lyrics addressing the death of bassist Mo Bashir’s brother after he was subjected to a police restraint in February 2021. It’s an aggressive and emotional track, and easily one of the record’s strongest moments. It doesn’t mince its words either, with lines like “And you will know them by the trail of destruction that they leave in their wake/Without a shred of remorse” laying bare the stark realities faced by far too many here in the UK and beyond.

Police brutality isn’t the only issue TORCHBEARER set their sights on on Solace. For example, the aforementioned Psychosis offers a bleak reflection on mental health struggles, while closer Hail Mary takes obvious and furious aim at the hypocrisy of the church. Tasked with delivering all this material is vocalist Andy Mansell. For the most part, he opts for an absolutely raging bellow that suits the music to a tee. Occasionally, he’s supported by guitarist Ollie Gould, who adds his own semi-cleans to tracks like All Out Warfare and Dopesick among others. These bring another welcome layer to the band’s sound, although they could perhaps benefit from being a little more anthemic at points.

For all its bleakness, TORCHBEARER do find room for some form of hope on Solace. Not in an unrealistic, overly optimistic sense of the word, but more in a chest-pounding refusal to accept defeat. Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than on the record’s eighth track Wolves & Sheep. Featuring a guest appearance from vocalist Theresa Vendetta of London hardcore punks JAWLESS, it sees her and Mansell trading off proud declarations of “We are beaten, we are brusied/We are battered, we are broken/But I promise you we will prevail”. The track itself is another highlight too, its chug-laden riffs evoking KILLSWITCH ENGAGE at their very finest.

To be totally honest, TORCHBEARER don’t really do anything you won’t have heard before on Solace. That doesn’t really matter though. This record is hard as nails, and if you like riffs, you’ll like this. Add to that the fact that this band actually have something to say and the result is an album whose 35 minutes should leave its listeners fired up and ready to take on the world. 

Rating: 7/10

Solace is set for release on January 21st via self-release.

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