Artist: Triggerfinger
Title: By Absence Of The Sun
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 18th April 2014
Label: Island Records
Album Review
Being dubbed “the loudest band in Antwerp” may mean as much to those far away from The Lowlands as being called, say, “the Gothiest band in Bradford” or “the best punk-dance combo in Konstanz”. But it’s a starting point, and they’ve clearly set their sights on the rest of Europe, gigging hard and then releasing new album ‘By Absence Of The Sun’. While the album title conjures up images of pale, sensitive youth writing poetry on old typewriters, the band name would fit an over-inked, snotty American punk band. Neither is true of course.
What you get here is rock. Hard, heavy, and yes, loud. What you don’t get are too many surprises. ‘The Game’ makes it perfectly clear what’s in store, huge, sludgy riffs stamping noisily in classic-rock’s concrete boots. Vocalist Ruben Block has the perfect vocals for this, bluesy and powerful but never hysterical, and on the bar-room knees-up of ‘Perfect Match’ his voice is swamped in murky echo giving this a live feel. The title track gets the traditional 1,2,3,4 countdown before launching itself into a heady mix of riffing, tambourine and unexpected twists and turns and it’s nicely busy without getting cluttered. ‘Off The Rack’, similarly, has little flutters of percussion that help rescue it from nuts and bolts hard-rock. It does start to get a bit wearing though, when ‘Black Panic’ sounds like SOUNDGARDEN trying to be LED ZEPPELLIN for example.
Or on the not bluesy-enough trot of the intriguingly title ‘…and There She Was, Lying In Wait’, which you can sing along to on the first listen, such is the tired old formula. Things get weird on ‘Halfway There’, a tip-tappy sparse backdrop and hushed vocals. The genuine oddness is its charm, because it feels natural and organic. More of this please. ‘Trail Of Love’ is in a similar groove, and when TRIGGERFINGER reign in the excess they are clearly onto something. This song reveals itself slowly before a cascade of subtle playing and a heartfelt vocal sends this to a satisfying climax. Perhaps they should have stopped here, because last track ‘Master Of Fears’, despite growling and scowling, sounds like it’s had enough and wants to get to the bar.
There’s no doubt TRIGGERFINGER are on their way to developing their own sound, and there are signs here that pilfering from the past is not necessary and the band have enough ideas to dump the clichés. Things works best when the subtleties are allowed to surface, and being Antwerp’s loudest band is not necessarily the tag that will make them.
Tracklist
01. Game
02. Perfect Match
03. By Absence Of The Sun
04. Big Hole
05. Off The Rack
06. Black Panic
07. There Isn’t Time
08. …And There She Was, Lying In Wait
09. Splendor In The Grass
10. Halfway There
11. Trail Of Love
12. Master Of All Fears
Line-up
Ruben Block - vocals & guitar
Mario Goossens - drums
Monsieur Paul - bass
Website
https://www.facebook.com/triggerfingerpage / http://www.triggerfinger.net/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
Comments powered by CComment