Like Torches – Shelter

Stokholm four-piece Like Torches adheres to a modern brand of pop-punk not unlike the majority of Fearless Records acts over the past ten years.  The Swedish band follows the simple guitars and hook-heavy choruses that go hand in hand with the many New Found Glory and Yellowcard imitators like Get Stoked that have come and gone over the years.  To be sure, they’re one of the more modest and less obnoxious fitting that description, as evidenced by their latest full length, Shelter.  

But by the same token, Like Torches is not terribly unique either.  

Pitchy, layered vocals reach high from the get go as lead vocalist Jonathan Kärn benefits from the vocal sparring of bassist Daniel Kärn.  Opener “Swing By Swing” occupies the place of a prototypical pop-punk anthem.  Riffs land quickly in repetition as they bolster the steadfast vocal lead and contribute to the quartet’s melodic disposition.  But as with many of Like Torches’ inspirations, the overall effect stands up well individually, but tends to blur together in the context of an album and neighbouring tracks (like “Coma”).  

Finding safety in familiarity, this crucial flaw makes for what can only be described as an overwhelmingly generic and predictable listen.  Sure, some songs like “Walking Home” or album highlight “Skeletons” up the tempo for a speedier end result (akin to Neck Deep), but by the same token, those like “Bit A Bullet” end up feeling like b-sides from less than desirable mainstream acts like Simple Plan or All American Rejects.  While not typically as obnoxious as the latter, a solid proportion of Shelter’s tracks come across as unremarkably faceless.

Like Torches’ broad reaching generic persona makes writing a review challenging without recycling adjectives and descriptors.  As it stands now, I can’t help but feel that I’ve written this same review on multiple occasions for similarly lackluster offerings.  There’s no question that Like Torches understands how to write a hook-laden pop-rock song for contemporary audiences; they just tend to recycle much of what we already know.  Had Like Torches added their own spin to Shelter, then perhaps they would have arrived at a more favourable outcome.  Unfortunately that couldn’t be further from the case.