Feral Torch

Feral Torch - VI from Albion on Vimeo.

My friend Alan Doyle is very, very busy man.
He's best know for being in a bunch of local hardcore bands for starters - This Tongue Is Poison, Contort, Rat's Blood, Wolfbait, Disguise..I'm probably forgetting a bunch of others right now. All these bands gig regularly, have recordings either out or coming out, and most importantly are all excellent. Then on top of that he's a prolific artist whose warped pen and ink drawings have recently started gracing tape and record covers for mainly local bands (Prison Chapel,Sickener and the upcoming Crows/Drainland split all feature his instantly recognisable style, more examples of which you can see here), as well as having been exhibited in Into The Void here in Dublin a few months ago. Not to mention he also recently put out one half of the excellent "Blod" double zine set produced with the equally prolific Eric. He's involved in the Karate Klub rehearsal space, he helps out with Suburban Mayhem records..he's just in general a bit of a force of nature in the local punk/hc scene.

Parallel to his punk rawk exploits however, AD has also been involved to an increasing degree in various experimental/noise/drone projects over the last couple of years. He was part of various incarnations of the short lived Over with yours truly, went on to participate in the currently dormant Cloudeater, and more recently has been playing as part of a duo called Flowers of Dissonance with Aonghus McEvoy (Drainland/Unitd Bible Studies).

Inevitably however, some form of solo project was eventually going to rear its' head. And lo behold, just before the end of 2011 the first recordings of his newest project Feral Torch reared their mutated heads. The man himself describes it as "blackened synth punk". No, he doesn't mean "blackened" as in "black metal" like you think he does (the "punk" bit, he means it as in "dark". "Charred" even perhaps, because some of this sounds like he set a mini-moog on fire or something). It's essentially a series of short, sharp electric shocks delivered via damaged sounding keys and effects, that might well get you hot around the crotch if early SPK, Men's Recovery Project, Mutant Video or 80s straight to VHS horr film soundtracks appeal to you in any way shape or form. Stream and download below.
Feral Torch by AD.AD