Review Summary: If the neurofunk of 'Wormhole' brought the definitive boost for dark drum 'n' bass, the techstep of 'Torque' was the pitch-black essence on which it took root.
An asteroid belt in the Outer Rim. Near the core of a large rock, droids are incessantly melting and moulding metal in the forge. One of the droids is slowly becoming sentient. Intermittent distress signals resonate on distant radio waves. Neighbouring planets harbour forgotten life forms in an icy slumber. In between atmospheres, creatures with no clear shape float through weightless space, like mute translucent fish in the inky blue of the deep sea. Against the infinite backdrop of stars, constellations and zodiac signs are playing unwitnessed games of Pong. Somewhere, a black sun is rising. The asteroid with the forge plant is casually swallowed by a cyborg brontosaurus looking for its young. Its far call is answered by subsonic wails from an adjacent galaxy. A legion of nanobots is still slowly eating away the carcass of a gigantic star destroyer in a cosmic junkyard. The robotic rhinoceros that is strolling around in your head now grunts approvingly.
Meanwhile in an ancient toxic rainforest, new plans of global annihilation are growing on a soil of decomposing urban jungle. In the city underground, empty subway trains are riding their night-time loops dreaming, digesting the sounds and impressions of days past. A space freighter is nearing its docking station in the rings of Saturn. Human voice snippets and samples are scattered randomly, like post-apocalyptic debris.
All this time, a cosmic clock is ticking at a steady but vehement pace. A pace translated in vicious, malevolent, syncopated beats.
Enter the dark and fascinating aural universe crafted by Trace, Ed Rush, Nico and Fierce. With its massive distorted bass lines,
Torque will create soundscapes matching all kinds of dystopian imagery sprouting from your mind. A milestone in the development of breakbeat music, this breeding laboratory of hardcore techstep laid the immediate foundations for Ed Rush and Optical's neurofunk (see
Wormhole), and was instrumental in establishing dark drum & bass as a subgenre. While releases by labels such as Goldie's Metalheadz and Grooverider's Prototype regularly featured exercises in the style at the time, here all its spicy point-of-no-return ingredients are combined and crystallized into one album, courtesy of Nico Sykes' No U-Turn label. As is the case with other full-length D'n'B releases, the added continuous mix cd - here with four further tracks - is as essential as the unmixed original collection because it lets you plunge into the real purpose and biotope of the tracks, which is to be DJ-mixed live with the express intent of turning dancefloors into war zones.
Depending on your mood, listening to
Torque can be either sedating, either adrenalinic, or strangely both at the same time. Either way, it must be heard to be experienced.
