Are you feeling miserable? Anxious over the disease, depressed at being shut in, broke as fuck and wondering how May’s rent is going to be paid? Well, much as we’d like to give you the solution to all those ills, we can’t — except for the ailment of emotional misery. Right now, at least for about four minutes, we can blast those dismal demons into outer darkness. Or more accurately, the Swedish band Tøronto can do that — man, can they do that!
In naming their debut EP Under Siege, it’s almost as if Tøronto foresaw the current siege, and also foresaw exactly what would be needed to break the siege — eight bursts of high-voltage speed metal delivered with a raucous punk vitality, the kind of wild thrill-ride that their label’s publicist sums up as “greased-up NWOBHM colliding headlong into early Razor and Warfare, but overseen by Inepsy, mid ‘80s Discharge, and even Howard Benson-era Motörhead“.
If those references get you salivating, wait ’til you hear “Ride the Rails“, the song from Under Siege that we’re premiering today in advance of the record’s May 22 release by Dying Victims Productions.
The fiery and fast-rocking riff that kicks the song into gear is such an immediate jolt to the pulse, and so immediately contagious, that you know within seconds “Ride the Rails” is going to be a shitload of fun. And as the twin-guitar attack works its magic, the rhythm section jumps in to kick the pulse-rate up another notch, and the raw punk vocals dial up the song’s feral energy even more.
While the music’s driving momentum is brazen and boisterous enough to function as a mainline of adrenaline, the band throw in some soloing fireworks to super-heat the experience, and also ease back on the pace just a bit to pave the way for yet another spectacular solo that starts slow and spirals off into the heavens like a rocket whose gyroscope has suffered a breakdown.
We wish we could provide the full stream of Under Siege today, mustering the full wolf-pack of songs to keep those dismal demons at bay for longer than four minutes. We can’t do that yet, but what we can do is include a stream of “Lights Out Bedlam“, another cut off the album that premiered last month at DECIBEL.
MORE INFO: Tøronto’s high-octane line-up consists of two former members of the late great Morbus Chron — vocalist/guitarist Edvin Aftonfalk and bassist Dag Landin, here under the stage names Eddie Flawless and 79-83 — plus drummer Leo Ekström Sollenmo (from Lethal Steel and Temisto), under the name Lt. Oxtreme, and new guitarist Steffan of Pissjar.
Dying Victims Productions will release the album in two vinyl editions, with insert, poster, sticker, post-card, and download code — and a woven patch accompanying the colored vinyl edition. Check out the options and pre-order here:
PRE-ORDER:
https://shop.dying-victims.de/en/search?controller=search&s=Toronto+Under+Siege
TØRONTO:
https://www.facebook.com/torontoswe
One Response to “AN NCS PREMIERE: TØRONTO — “RIDE THE RAILS””
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Goddamn, this is filth! Very nice. And, this is one of the best album covers ever!