Florida's TORCHE rolled their "Admission" tour into OKC's 89th St. Collective this past Friday night, playing a fun and well received show. TORCHE was joined on this stop of the tour by Dallas area support, PINKISH BLACK and SRSQ creating a stunning night of lush soundscapes early and hard-hitting heaviness to close things out.

TORCHE is touring behind "Admission", their 2019 Relapse Records release that's proven to be a darling of critics, peers as well as most fans of heavy music. So, with that in mind, the band focused on this newer material and delivered a 15 song set that rarely gave a moment's pause. The only songs missing from "Admission" would be "Reminder" and "On A Wire", with the others faithfully rendered, and well received by the TORCHE faithful in attendance. Making up the remainder of the set were "Charge of the Brown Recluse" from their 2005 self-titled debut, as well as "Minions" "Undone" and "Barrier Hammer" from 2015's " Restarter". The band consists of Steve Brooks on vocals and guitar, Jonathan Nuñez on guitar, Rick Smith on drums and Eric Hernandez holding down bass. They're a band that has fun on stage, with lots of fan interaction, but always a firm focus on the songs.

Prior to TORCHE, was Ft.Worth/Denton, Texas ambient/experimental duo PINKISH BLACK. This was my second recent opportunity to catch vocalist/keyboardist Daron Beck and drummer/synth Jon Teague, and just like my first opportunity, I was mesmerized. Despite only being a duo, their songs are rich and full of both warmth and substance. The low end the pair combine is key to their spacious soundscapes as Beck's haunting vocals circle and  light about, while Teague's thunderous percussion is a sight to see and hear. The band mostly focused on song's from "Concept Unification" on Relapse Records, but regrettably, I'm still not all that familiar with the songs enough to report exactly what they played. I can tell you it was breathtaking.  PINKISH BLACK have quickly become one of my favorite bands to see live in 2019.

Opening the evening was the solo artist/performer SRSQ. Relying on keys, synths and all things programmable, Kennedy Ashlyn (THEM ARE US TOO) presented a set of music that blurred the boundaries of performance art, EDM, Prog, opera and likely several other genres. Songs undoubtedly centered around the Dias Records 2018 release, "Unreality", but again, I regret to say I wasn't familiar enough to name them. I can say that I quite enjoyed the set as a whole. It was dark, moody yet undeniably fun.

Overall, this was a night that stretched the boundaries of Heavy Music in general, and was a good representation of the young talent that's out there making good music these days. All three of these bands are out there on the road pretty much non-stop. Do yourself a favor, try to catch them if they're in your area. Expose yourself to something new, something experimental and fresh. I can almost guarantee you'll find something you'll walk away impressed by.