It is wrong to review a band up against the hype. Indubitably so. Because the levels of hype built up around Torche in the press (cough, cough, and one more cough for good measure) would mean that unless their urgent mix of stoner-fuzz riffs and multi-layered hooks can solve the credit crunch, the energy crisis, and end the war on terror (in that order) then they’re going to have trouble living up to expectations.

But if the bar is set high, it’s because Torche put it there with their frankly stunning Meanderthal album. This Thursday at the Camden Underworld, they carve out their name on the very air. Their sound almost physically bites into you, like a wolf with a circular saw strapped to its lupine chin.

There are grins of almost pained-pleasure on the faces of all band. This isn’t music to mosh to – the audience have planted their feet and are content to feel the sound shake each of their internal organs in ways that would be too indecent to show on TV before the watershed. While the technical layering in tracks like ‘Sandstorm’ or ‘Granades’ might be absent, it’s replaced by such an enormous growling power that it renders us unable to even think straight, let alone pick holes in the sound.

No London footage, but here’s ‘Tarpit Carnivore’ from Bristol's gig instead:

The last time Music Towers had our audio-faculties shook down this deeply, was when we caught a then mostly-unknown little mob called Mastodon playing a support slot at this very venue back in 2004. Surely it is only a matter of time before the world wakes up to the power of this Florida four-piece, and they too go stratospheric.

It’s not the fault of Pelican, tonight’s headliner, that they sound so pedestrian in comparison. To complain about their performance after Torche’s – which didn’t so much blow our sonic cobwebs away but napalm them clean our of our lugholes - is like finding a £5 note in the street minutes after picking up a £50 from the same gutter. At any other time it would make your day, but after what we’ve just experienced, they can’t help but seem like pocket change.