Bay Area-based doom metal musician Iva Toric is far from your typical household name, but that could easily begin to change by the end of 2022 with her new album Dead Reckoning on the way. Mastered by the Grammy Award-winning Ted Jensen (Green Day, Alice in Chains, Evanescence) and featuring what Kerrang! calls “a mixture of elemental doom metal and haunting folk,” the wheels are in motion to make Toric’s sophomore release a landmark event. If all of this somehow isn’t enough to make you intrigued, this next piece surely will: Iva Toric’s latest single “Time to Die,” the second off of Dead Reckoning following “Wasting Water,” has just arrived and it further cements her place as a major player within the modern doom metal scene — there’s more than what’s to be expected at play, and all of it ends up being extremely compelling.
Crafting a single for your album around the title “Time to Die” might feel like a bold shot to some, but in the era of online streaming and independent releases, crazier things have been done! With the genre of doom metal at the center of the single’s upbringing, the title choice feels like a pretty poignant choice when you think about it, and after experiencing the single, the title couldn’t be more perfect. Functioning first and foremost as a song with lyrics that take aim at the pandemic lockdown and its surrounding consequences, there’s a lot to unpack from Iva Toric with this one. Her elegant voice delivers lines that dig deep in regards to civil unrest, quarantining with no end, and the insatiable need for human contact as heavy guitars and drums duke it out in the background. The single never reaches inhospitable levels of heaviness, even with a title as morose as this one, and that fine balance brings attention to the knack everyone working on the song must have.
Featuring Gregg Cash (guitar/bass), Dylan Howard (drums), and Toric herself on vocals as well as keys, there’s an admirable leanness to the band’s lineup at play. The aforementioned Jensen masters the single with deft ease, while Jim Kaufman produces with Ryan Molder on as assistant producer. It’s a remarkably nimble team, with the small numbers leaving no room for mistakes or lallygagging, and the proof is visible within “Time to Die” as it excels within every second of its runtime. The song’s lyrics could be seen as its weakest point but they only feel that way as they’re blunt and in your face; if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that there’s no subtlety to a pandemic.
Therefore, Toric addressing it should follow suit as such, and the lyrics do so with no pleasure. There’s a hard necessity on display in Toric’s vocals, and the matter-of-fact-ness allows the song to avoid dipping into preachy territory. The assumption that Dead Reckoning will continue the trend of dishing out pills as hard to swallow as “Time to Die” feels certain, but easy listens rarely ever make history and Toric seems more invested in the long-term results of her work than instant gratification. It’s time to take your medicine, it’s time to die.
Heather Savage
