In the past, Torche has been limited by the binary of its own output: While they've specialized partly in down-tuned behemoths, they're most loved for their specific style of bubblegum heaviness, epitomized by 2008's "Healer". But "Harmonslaught," a limited-run single that follows this year's Torche-by-the-books LP Harmonicraft, successfully pairs those styles and pushes the Miami group squarely out of its familiar stylistic molds. At the start, "Harmonicraft" suggests one of the band's trademark viscous rumbles, but Steve Brooks slowly delivers a direct hook above the maul, lacing the gloom with an addictive refrain. It's previously seemed impossible to have Torche both ways at once, to hum along and feel the sound at once; "Harmonslaught" shows that they're willing to try.

[from the "Harmonslaught" b/w "Rock N Roll Mantasy" 7"; out 12/17/12 via Amnesian]