Holly Hunt's Year One Release Show With Torche at Churchill's Pub, December 14

Toward the end of the set, Perry pulled an aluminum-bodied guitar with a conspicuously long neck from the side of the stage. The sound created by the instrument was like Satan playing a tuba constructed from the bones of the damned -- lower than low and absolutely crushing with every note. A highlight of the set was "Destroy All Monsters" which, between its borderline melodic guitar riff and inescapable groove, garnered the best crowd reaction we've ever witnessed for a Holly Hunt performance. The set surely marked a special moment for the band.

Closing out the festivities was Torche. Riding high off the heels of a tour with Converge, the band has released a seven-inch single for the song "Harmonslaught," which features the track "Rock N Roll Mantasy" as a B-side. The band was in incredible form (as usual), and played a set of favorites that ranged from the unbridled muck of "King Beef" -- which was introduced by Steve Brooks dropping a couple of improved rap bars over the song's hypnotic beat -- to the spacey guitar shred of "Snakes Are Charmed."

Not surprisingly, the new single was met with a huge response; the track has all of the bomb-note heft that fans of earlier Torche efforts might have missed a bit on Harmonicraft, and it might just be the heaviest thing the band has released since In Return. To our ears, "Harmonslaught" sounds like the ideal soundtrack for dinosaurs fucking.

Sticking with the heavy tracks, the show ended with the bombast of "Tarpit Carnivore." And the battered crowd left, smiling with bruised bodies and even more bruised eardrums.

Critic's Notebook

Overheard: Nothing. We will never overhear anything again.

Random Observation: One of these days, Jonathan Nunez is going to seriously headbang his skull right off his neck.

Cautionary Note: Y'all need to stop hanging from those speakers. Some Great White shit is apt to happen.

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