TOUCHÉ AMORÉ has been burrowing through angst, alienation,
cancer, and heartbreak throughout four adored studio albums.
After over a decade of working through darkness, the band"s
gorgeously gruff fifth album, Lament, finds the light at the end
of the tunnel. Through 11 songs, Touché Amoré looks back at
its past and uses hard-won optimism to point its fans toward
light, and love. For the follow up to the their critically acclaimed
2016 release, Stage Four, Touché Amoré have opted to get out
of their comfort zone and work with a new producer, the
famously demanding Ross Robinson (Slipknot, Korn, At the
Drive-In). Both Robinson and Touché Amoré are known for their
trademark intensity. "I believe there was an unspoken learning
curve between Ross"s methods and the understanding that I"ve
poured myself into the words and mean every one of them,"
vocalist Jeremy Bolm says. Robinson agreed to a rare one-song
"test recording" last summer, which resulted in the song
"Deflector," released last fall. In the end, "Deflector" proved the
producer/band combo was undoubtedly the right fit. Robinson
made Bolm read out all of his confessional lyrics to his
bandmates to make sure they understood their emotional
content. Making Bolm read those lyrics turned out to be what
helped make their emotions palpable in the final recording. With
its ruminations on the draining human connection ("I"ll test the
water/I won"t dive right in/That"s too personal/I"m too
delicate"), Lament"s first helping is a sharp intro to the album"s
themes. Lament is their masterstroke. Its longer, structured
songs soar with a ferocious but delicate musicality and
powerful, gut-wrenching storytelling that smashes previous
heights. Yet as much as the band has grown and matured via
everything they"ve endured, it"s perhaps equally impressive
how they"ve managed to stay true to their core...
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