Our Trap Them aficionado in residence, Kristján Friðbjörn, has a mind soaked in the band's work and you can find him reciting and namedropping the four horsemen of intensity throughout his pieces on Halifax Collect and beyond. So when the highly anticipated new song hit, he was on it like a crab on a crab pot. Trap Them is beloved by me, the editor, as well. So a analysis of sorts was in order. The track in question, "Salted Crypt" is off the forthcoming Prosthetic Records release called Blissfucker. Click this link for juice pre-order options.
*handsthemicovertokristján*
This new track is quite along the lines of Darker Handcraft, as in keeping the heavy buzzsaw sound they took even further there, and continuing the same doomy down-tempo riffing. There's some d-beat on this track for sure, but it punches nowhere nearly as hard as on Seizures in Barren Praise (review), where Brian seems to have found his best grooves to date.
Also what this track does is establish Trap Them even further right there somewhere between Cursed and Converge, even pulling the super-boring "double-kick along with the tremolo-picking guitar" that Kurt Ballou does sometimes, most recently on "Trespasses", song #2 on All We Love We Leave Behind. The riff that then comes after that seems like Brian's just drawing random chords out of a hat and using them in that order. That riff has no structure and is in my ears frankly annoying. I mean by all means bring the dissonance but with this random selection of chords he just misses the goal by miles, to use a sports reference.
Overall I have to say I'm more bored than impressed, and I'm doing much more shrugging than living room moshing.
I'm sorta in the same boat as Kristján here.
Most of the elements and ideas in this song have already been thoroughly explored by this very band, All Pigs Must Die, Converge and more. It sounds too familiar for its own good (which is a troubling trend with more bands of similar ilk these days), that is to say, it doesn't ignite excitement and unbridled anticipation in this guy, I'm afraid. The fact that Trap Them is one of the bands, if not THE that perfected a style - this sound - makes me question why the need to change things up and take the music into fresher realms on the back of a tried and honed foundation.
Naturally, the old adage if it ain't broke, don't fix it, applies here for sure but there's an army of younger bands squeezing this tit void of milk these days, have been doing for years and will continue to do so.
The take away: A distinct d-beat such as this one is always a joy. Makes me want to start troubles. I like the eerie howl-like string bending in the beginning. Evil.
As many labels are want, the first glimpse into forthcoming albums is often one that sounds familiar. Here's hoping that Blissfucker rewards new and old fans such as us two with unexpected twists and ideas much like Seizures in Barren Praise did after Séance Prime.
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TRAP THEM - Seizures in Barren Praise
Top 10 records of 08 / Sign of life
What I see different here is mood and tone. It doesn't seem to me like new ground was INTENDED to be broken with this track, seeing as the riffs are pretty simple and focus on sheer heaviness, dissonance and depression. The speed seems to take an important role in conveying this mood - gotta be the slowest burn I've ever heard from this band. Doesn't everyone remember the track "Scars Align"? No reinvention of the wheel there, either; just utter loss and desperation conveyed beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you notice, but this track is about as symmetrical as the eerie cover of the new album. There's something just off-putting and uncomfortable about the symmetry. This record is going to be a fucking beast.