Trillion Red and the man behind them Patrick Brown are back with a debut album following on from last years EP taster ‘Two Tongues.’ Said EP slightly confused me although on the whole I certainly enjoyed it whilst saying I would be interested to hear what came next. It was incredibly guitar driven and had me thinking of some post rock bands as well as the likes of everything from Fugazi to The Pixies, so what now, more of the same?
Nope not exactly, in fact we are told this is “Dark Progressive Avant-Garde Metal” and it can legitimately lay the claim to have “discovered new musical territory.” Interesting and somewhat bold statement that this is, it will certainly require some backing up.
The San Fran based artist (and let’s call him that) eases us in with ‘Blood Bravado.’ Electronic pulses dissolve and a riff builds up threatening to explode but never quite doing. It meanders along with thick bass tones but never really does much. We expect the second number to really whack around the head now but it is a prelude to the three part track Trichoric and is just ambience with quiet vocal chanting. Apparently trichoric’ means that the colour depends on the direction you view it and I guess you could say the same about the music but 6 minutes in and I am desperate for something to happen. Thankfully it finally does with thick heavyset and swaggering riffs momentarily taking us into Trichoric I ‘In Ever Loving Shadows’ and playing a game of mixing it up with more of those somewhat sparse and unsatisfying whispering vocals. The track finally sees some proper singing and takes on the shadows with a bit of a gothic vibe amidst the post rock Indie noodling. It’s at times very pleasant and at others injects a hammering intensity. I do find myself wondering who exactly this would really appeal to and that is the main focus, if you wanted to say it was for fans of, who would you name check? I guess that is part of the new musical territory claim. Moving to part II I am not sure what the colours are now but ‘In Darkness Cannot Be’ has me thinking of The Cure a bit melody wise at start and then with the vocals some of the newer experimenters out there like Junius and Alaric. I admit it is at this point I cheat and go to the helpful Last FM site where they have a ‘band’s who sound like’ section, something I never do when reviewing. It seems equally confused and of the bands I know mentions Shroud Of Despondency, The Atlas Moth Entrenched, Zombiefication and Sonne Adam!! The latter few being way off the radar for sure.
Moving to the second part of the album I again find myself waiting for things to happen. There is way too much filler like ‘Bug-Id’ where very little is happening apart from some repetitive guitar lines leading up to a chorus that whilst melodic and catchy has been left far too long to make its appearance. The progressive sounding riffs that (again finally) crop up on ‘Parables And Levitation’ will probably go down well with those worshipping at the altar of bands such as Mastodon and Cormorant but again the number seems overextended and has taken too long to develop and outstays it welcome.
Everything eventually leads up to final 14 minute track ‘Dawn State’ and you know what state you are in at dawn, one that just makes you feel like going back to bed. So there are some good melodies and some nice textures to be found on this album but I really struggled to find them amidst all the nothingness that pads the album out. It is 59 minutes and feels like a hell of a lot longer to be honest and overall I found it a frustrating listen.
Whereas I said I would be interested to see where they went next after the EP I think it’s going to take quite a lot to get me to sit through this again and I won’t be waiting expectantly for any future releases, sorry.
(5.5/10 Pete Woods)
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