Torch Marauder

If ever a CD cover didn’t really represent the music concealed within, this would be it. The cover of Boxers, Painter And Snappers, the second album by the Torch Marauder, features a menacing hooded figure with a blue face, conjuring up suggestions of equalling menacing music, probably of the metal variety. Instead, the Torch Marauder makes music more in the vein of They Might Be Giants if they rocked a bit harder. Yet it isn’t that simple because their eclectic nature means that it is hard to know what the next song might hold. And that can be both a good thing and a bad thing, but the one constant is that every single song has a real goofiness to it. While there is nothing wrong with making quirky music, it is hard to know just how sincere the Torch Marauder really is. Sometimes it works, but at other times it feels contrived and almost annoying. Perhaps that isn’t the case during his bizarre live performances (which are frequently interrupted by his arch nemesis the Torched Conquistador who appears via video screen) because this kind of weirdness can work in the context of a stage show when accompanied by theatrics but on CD, it is a hit and miss affair where the bad moments cancel out the good ones.