Torque
Torque

This band, unjustly underrated, snubbed I would say, was born from the ashes of Vio-Lence, a Thrash band from the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1993, I believe, Robb Flynn left Vio-Lence and founded Machine Head, gaining well-deserved acclaim with the debut album "Burn My Eyes" in 1994. The remaining members recorded a demo tape with three tracks ("Again", "Breed", "Shooter", later included in "Torque") together with the drummer Mark Hernandez, who replaced Perry Strickland, and with guitarist Ray Vegas instead of Flynn. The bassist Deen Dell, however, remained in his place. The vocalist Sean Killian left the band, and Phil Demmel took over the microphone: thus the Torque was born.

In 1996, this single self-titled album was released by the small Dutch label Mascot, with Rob Beaton as producer (his work with "Victims Of Deception" by Heathen was excellent). The album is a thrash bomb with a modern sound, influenced by Machine Head but especially by Vio-Lence, with a superb sound: compressed, rough yet sharp, with outstanding drumming. The first three tracks "H. L. S", "Again", "Nothing" are excellent, with a fantastic Hernandez who stirs the rhythm with the double bass, while the two guitars churn out personal riffs, that don’t tire. And the voice? Well, the vocal parts are the work of the two guitarists (or maybe just Demmel?) and they are good: abrasive, following in the footsteps of Robb Flynn, certainly not at his level but excellent. There's a bit of a drop with "Shooter" and "Pulled", but the valid songs are in the majority; the aforementioned "Nothing" contains a masterful tempo change, to listen to full blast while traveling by car.

However, the pinnacle of the work is "Dead You Lay", a fast song with a varied double bass (yet again!) that sends me into a spin and Demmel’s solo is fast, but also melodic. I also hold "Chocking" close to my heart, a showcase of everything the album has to offer; I sit there and listen to it and I realize there is passion in these guys, they truly have a desire to hit hard. The fast "Forgotten", reminiscent of Vio-Lence, and the long and cadenced "Hand Over Fist" with its menacing progression, with somewhat eccentric vocal lines, are also beautiful. A consideration on the choruses that dot every song: to me they are not out of place; in fact, they excite me, they are a legacy of Vio-Lence (like, for example, "I Profit" from "Oppressing The Masses"). The album did not achieve any commercial success: we are in 1996 and there is "Roots" by Sepultura, and also the echo of the first Machine Head; however, in live performances, the band, from what I've read, was devastating.

This is an album to rediscover and love; I can say I bought it after reading an interview from July 1996, in a specialized magazine, with Phil Demmel talking about it. When asked: "I say three things and you relate them: Vio-Lence, Machine Head, Torque" he answers this way: "The first and the third are similar, the second is different. I was the main composer of Vio-Lence and I am today of Torque. This situation makes the discourse of the two bands almost a logical sequence. The fundamental difference between then and now is that now, besides playing guitar, I also sing. Today I have greater control of my abilities and I think what I'm doing today is better than what I did in Vio-Lence"

Phil is a person I admire: at the time he worked as a carpenter to make ends meet. Listen to what he says about Machine Head:

"Machine Head are great and I am really happy they are where they are. Robb has worked hard over the years and the result is certainly not to be underestimated. I believe Machine Head is in many ways far from both Vio-Lence and Torque, the approach is different, and I can't deny that I like it a lot. Many have asked me if I was envious of what happened to Flynn and his band, the answer is no. Others have instead asked if I wanted to exploit his fame to relaunch my career, here too the answer is no.
I never stopped playing, unfortunately, only now have I managed to reach the album, but in many ways, we and Machine Head have been working on parallel tracks: they found the station first..."

Today Phil is the second guitarist of Machine Head: his solos are still as brilliant as they used to be and so is his compositional talent.