Touché Amoré Lament

Four years ago, the grand and clangorous Los Angeles post-hardcore band Touché Amoré released their devastating, monumental album Stage Four. Bandleader Jeremy Bolm sang, screamed, and sobbed about watching his mother die of cancer. It was a crowning achievement for a band who’d already made a lot of powerful music.

In the time since, there have been a couple of one-off Touché Amoré singles: “Green” in 2018, “Deflector” last year. The members of the band have also made noisier hardcore records with other bands: Bolm with Hesitation Wounds, guitarist Clayton Stevens with Entry. And now, Touché Amoré are returning at full strength, unveiling the details of the new album that they’ve been teasing for a while.

Touché Amoré recorded the new album Lament with a producer whose name tends to start fights: Ross Robinson, infamous architect of the nü-metal sound. Robinson is most famous for working with Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot, but he’s also produced post-hardcore classics like At The Drive-In’s Relationship Of Command and the Blood Brothers’ …Burn, Piano Island, Burn. Last year, Touché Amoré recorded “Deflector” with Robinson, testing out the process to see if it would work. It did, and they went and made a whole album with him. (“Deflector” is on the album.)

Lead single “Limelight” suggests that Touché Amoré made the right call. “Limelight” sounds tremendous, strained and furious and colossal. Bolm rages about getting older and embracing it, while Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull comes in to sing add gorgeous melodic vocals to the bridge. It’s a stirring and resonant piece of music. Check out “Limelight” and the Lament tracklist below.

SIDE A

Come Heroine
Lament
Feign
Reminders
Limelight

SIDE B

Exit Row
Savoring
A Broadcast
I’ll Be Your Host
Deflector
A Forecast?