Melbourne heavy rock act Torrential Thrill have announced their new album State Of Disaster set for release on April 1st 2023. The album is the band’s most prolific and ambitious album yet. With 11 tracks and over an hour of new music, the album has been in the works for just over 5 years!
For those who might be unfamiliar with the band, Torrential Thrill is a four-piece hard rock juggernaut based in Melbourne, although only lead vocalist Chris Malcher is actually an Aussie. Formed in the latter part of 2014 with an ethos of writing great music and playing to the masses. Appealing to fans of Alter Bridge, Shinedown, Pop Evil, etc, they adhere to what their heroes Metallica once said – “We write the sort of music that we would want to listen to“! True to form, a lot of the band’s themes recurring throughout the album centre around hardships and man’s relentless pursuit of power. There is also another element of reflection, sacrifice and personal loss.
Chris Malcher (Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar); Steve Morrell (Lead/Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals);
Matt Morrell (Drums) and Steve ‘Knox’ Boyd (Bass, Gang Vocals)
To celebrate the announcement of the album, the band have released the first single High Society alongside a music video – see below!
Guitarist Steve Morrell comments on the track: “High Society is about greed and the lengths that people will go to get to the top of the food chain. The things that are important to us. Cool Car, clothes. It’s a stab at what we as a society have evolved to become, the corruption that comes about as a result of the relentless pursuit of power and how some people will do anything to get to the top of that tree.These themes are pretty consistent throughout the album.”
The band have this to say about the new album more generally: “We can’t wait to get this album out to the world. There have been many moments over the years when it almost became too difficult to continue on, but standing now on the other side of that hill is immensely satisfying. Traditional TT fans will find a combination of both the two previous albums in State of Disaster, but with a ten-fold improvement in production!”
TT’s debut album “MARS” was released independently in 2015 with the title track making the top 5 new tracks of the year on Aussie mag Triple-Js . The band followed up the debut release with a second album “Nothing as it Seems” shortly after, through Hellfire Records (AU) in 2017. Since then, the Melbourne quartet has toured heavily, sharing the stage with fellow rock acts Dead City Ruins and Dellacoma as well as supporting Fozzy during their 2018 Judas Rising Tour.
The ten tracks on the album open with Illusion, an intriguing blend of Circus Ringmaster and AC/DC! It soon becomes evident that the band’s influences figure largely from the 80’s and 90’s in the form of Metallica, Guns’n’Roses, AC/DC, Black Sabbath etc; their trademark sound revolves around powerful vocals and collective choruses, the whole driven by heavy, hard, riff driven guitar work.
Role Model is a rant at celebrities, and good on ’em for that! Underpinned by a meaty riff, that says it all really. And as can be seen from the video, High Society illustrates how I’ve seen their sound described as hybrid hard rock and metal, coupled with an almost “shout-and-respond” form of group vocals.
ITCH does rather begin to plough the same furrow, it’s okay but beginning to sound a little samey…But: Breathe is sooo totally different! A slower, gently acoustic intro precedes vocal harmonies that are softer than everything so far. It builds beautifully into a very Metallica-like monster, a whopper of a riff followed by a sweet, sweet lead solo, for me the strongest track so far – great stuff!
Dangerous Games fascinates me in the way that Chris Malcher’s vocals are so James Hetfield-ish, and it is recognisable influenced by Metallica, but theres a hefty slab of Sabbath thrown in as well. It’s a natural blend of “Like Greats” but I’ve rarely heard it so effectively. Topped with a wonderfully melodic guitar-driven bridge section plus added cackles! Then I’m back to this vision of James Hetfield as Circus Ringmaster!
Colour of Roses – it’s too obvious to say sounds like Guns N’ Roses, but…..it’s bang on, a real touch of Slash in the lead work! Animal Like Me by contrast is another track thats a bit too derivative…the same can’t be said for the title track State of Disaster though! This is a cleaner, more mellow sound (the vocals sounding oddly like The Strawbs at times!) It just has a different vibe, different mix, we’ve moved away from what was beginning to sound like a standard set of powerchords into (dare I say?) a sort of mid-Atlantic sound – but it’s really good, without losing any intensity!
Know My Song follows the same vein as State of Disaster, these last two tracks show a different side to the band, more tuneful, more adventurous, more distinctive, moving away from routine riffing – and sounding all the better for it. I’m showing my age here, but this could almost be Wishbone Ash meets Metallica – and I love it! – for me, Breathe and these last two are the strongest tracks on the album.
You could summarise Torrential Thrill as the Arena / pub sound of AC/DC and a big slab of Airbourne blended with more than a touch of post grunge gloom…..What’s not to like – Metallica fans will certainly love this, it’s good fun with a darker side!
And I can imagine their live shows being massively engaging and great fun – any chance of a European visit sometime?
