LAMENT (BLACK VINYL)

Black Vinyl.
TOUCHE AMORE has been burrowing through angst, alienation, cancer, and
heartbreak throughout four adored studio albums. After over a decade of
working through darkness, the band's gorgeously gruff fifth album, Lament,
finds the light at the end of the tunnel. Through 11 songs, TOUCHE AMORE
looks back at its past and uses hard-won optimism to point its fans toward
light, and love.
For the follow up to the their critically acclaimed 2016 release, Stage Four,
TOUCHE AMORE have opted to get out of their comfort zone and work with a
new producer, the famously demanding Ross Robinson (Slipknot, Korn, At the
Drive-In). Both Robinson and TOUCHE AMORE are known for their trademark
intensity. "I believe there was an unspoken learning curve between Ross's
methods and the understanding that I've poured myself into the words and
mean every one of them," vocalist Jeremy Bolm says.
Robinson agreed to a rare one-song "test recording" last summer, which resulted in the song "Deflector," released last fall. In the end, "Deflector" proved
the producer/band combo was undoubtedly the right fit. Robinson made Bolm
read out all of his confessional lyrics to his bandmates to make sure they understood their emotional content. Making Bolm read those lyrics turned out to
be what helped make their emotions palpable in the final recording. With its
ruminations on the draining human connection ("I'll test the water/I won't dive
right in/That's too personal/I'm too delicate"), Lament's first helping is a sharp
intro to the album's themes.
Lament is their masterstroke. Its longer, structured songs soar with a ferocious
but delicate musicality and powerful, gut-wrenching storytelling that smashes
previous heights. Yet as much as the band has grown and matured via everything they've endured, it's perhaps equally impressive how they've managed
to stay true to their core.