TONER - "Dark Ecstasy"

Photo via Facebook

When you read that a band started off as a solo bedroom project, you know what to expect. It will be limited instruments, probably a noisy, off tune guitar going through some pedal effects, and a drum machine, at most. Hailing from Oakland, TONER obliterates that notion. Their new single, "Dark Ecstasy," is borderline metal. It takes nearly alt-metal like Quicksand and Helmet and reworks it through shoegaze like My Bloody Valentine. Yes, that is one of the weirdest descriptions I've ever written, and it shouldn't work at all, but the more I think about it, the more this sound needed to happen, and the more shocked I am that it took this long. TONER gives us this sound that we've been crazing all these years without knowing it.

You can listen to "Dark Ecstasy" below. Silk Road, the upcoming album from TONER, will be out April 17 on Smoking Room. You can pre-order a copy here. For more on TONER, check them out on Facebook and Bandcamp.