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A modern, nothing too special album that carries a house band's sound.-
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| Trials: Witness to the Downfall |
Groove Metal, Metalcore, Thrash Metal
Self-Released
August 16th, 2011
- Praise - 3:59
- Powerless - 5:06
- This is Starvation - 6:13
- Declaration - 5:57
- Hammer - 4:46
- Shadows and Traps - 5:38
- Kingdom - 6:28
- And Still I Breathe - 5:04
- Take This from Me - 7:28
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| Review Information |
Release length: 50:39
Review posted on August 25th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 4.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Witness to the Downfall (2011)
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| Review |
Like many Metal bands of today, Trials is a relatively new group that isn't sitting around waiting for a record deal. Formed back in 2007 in Chicago, Illinois, the band plays a mixture of the modern Thrash Metal and Groove Metal sound with a strong Metalcore input. With the growing focus on the style in the Metal world today, it takes a little extra effort for a group to put out an album in this style that doesn't sound like something you've already heard countless times over, and considering their debut album Witness to the Downfall is an independent release, one can only wonder if that's basically what you are getting here. Is this album another drop in the stereotypical bucket, or does this group have something more to them that makes their material unique or more appealing?
While this is a group that once again does pull from the traditional Meshuggah Groove concepts or standard Sepultura ideals, Trials is not one of the most exhillerating of the acts in this style. The production quality of the album is pretty clean and comes off rather professional, but that doesn't really help the band much outside of giving them a more modern sound. The guitars sound alright but could be a little heavier, and the bass is there but ultimately doesn't really feel like it makes much of an impression either. The drums sound good with a decen thud to the kicks, a nice leveling job on the snares that make them sound pretty strong, and the cymbols are alright though nothing commanding. Vocally the band takes the traditional screaming Metalcore approach, and it works for the modern Metalcore sound the band works with. The mixture of Thrash with the Groove Metal is pretty good but it's greatly shadowed by the Metalcore approach and will bring up memories of bands Spineshank sans the Industrial overtones and enthusiasm, and Trivium just without the melody, and often without the intensity or speed, and if the latter is present, the music itself doesn't really have much to it that really stands out and makes you want to start moshing, or even get up in the first place, like the track "Powerless" among others. This is mostly due to the obvious Groove influence brought in, though the band does show they have the talent to put a great heavier edge to their material to accomodate all three of their main styles, such as with "This is Starvation". Of course, the clean singing here is a bit off in tone with the music and feels a little too light hearted to match the somewhat heavier chorus.
Witness to the Downfall starts off with a strong build up during "Praise", but again it's something we have all heard before. A building aggressive Metal and even Alternative Metal/"Mallcore" sound with a spoken word section that sounds like a man who has been strangled, all leading to what you expect to be a pounding, exciting start, but instead just kind of shifts a bit to the left instead of going straight for the juggular. This happens throughout the song, and while there is a moment where the music picks up, the song clearly just caters for a more mainstream Metalcore sound with a decent amount of a heavier edge during certain parts of the song that would make any Rock radio station feel a little iffy about putting the song on the air. While the song is not bad, it simply does not live up to the expectations it sets at the start, never seems to really jump up or excite the listener aside the few heavier moments that appear, but in the end it makes a decent song that really does play to some of the more popular ideas of today's modern Metal styles. Of course some of that goes right out the window with "Powerless", which has a good amount of heaviness to it, but more in a Pantera sense, a reference that shined through somewhat vocally on "Praise", but becomes pretty clear here vocally, and even with the music. There's a good Thrash kick to it, but again the song just doesn't really come through strong enough to really motivate the listener. But, this could also be contributed to the cleaner production that seems to take the edge off the instruments and really doesn't make them sound too heavy or intense to begin with. Consider that with the often Pantera-worship music that we've all heard before and is not the most entertaining interpretation of it, and you have a song that's alright, especially for the chorus which has suiting music for the clean singing, but again just nothing that special.
Trials does manage to do a little something extra in their music from time to time, and it works well for the songs despite how short a time it's executed. The band throws in moments of atmosphere, such as the end of "Declaration", which really gives off a bit of a more somber victorious feel, like earning that victory, but realizing it came with a great cost. It closes the song nicely and really stands out with what the band brings to the table with the rest of the track, giving off yet another alright performance. Sadly these atmospheric moments seem to be kept more to the end of the songs, and in very rare instances at the start, though the ones that kick off the track are not really as strong as those that close out a track. "Hammer" doesn't have this atmosphere, but it is one of the few tracks on here that really focuses on a heavier sound that comes out great, until the band lightens the mode with clean singing and a more melodic Killswitch Engage-esque chorus and build up to it. Sadly, these elements feel weak compared to the heavier presence that hits periodically through the song, and it becomes incresingly infuriating since the lighter parts are so bland, generic, and really don't go anywhere. The vocals are also somewhat off, don't really bring any impact to the song whatsoever, and ultimately just feel tacked on to what could have been a strong song. There's also "Shadows and Traps" which has a pretty strong heaviness to it with some great intensity behind much of the song that finds Trials clearly breaking the more stereotypical, lighter molds and ideas they worked with throughout the album, as well as present the closing track "Take This from Me", which is a strong track that is consistant from start to finish without feeling like the band really tacked anything on to service those lpooking for that lighter yet still kind of hard hitting sound that makes up Witness to the Downfall. Overall it's perhaps the best song off the album, and actually really worth looking into thanks to some of the fantastic guitar work with the solo, the atmosphere said solo section gives off, and the general heavy flow from start to finish with fantastic transitions to keep the recording solid and intense. Granted there's a soft passage with some acoustic sounding guitars that breaks into a clean singing more Rock approach, but there's still a bit of a war-themed atmosphere to it that works, but it just seems to take forever for it to end at this point, especially after that atmosphere is sacrificed for a long, drawn out build up to a traditional breakdown that takes forever to close the song out. At this point, "Take This from Me" is just not worth sticking around for, and the ending feels shot, leaving the listener feeling greatly let down considering how good the song is prior to it.
With one listen to Witness to the Downfall, you can pretty much determine in the first two, three minutes that this is one of those bands that is geared towards being a live group, perhaps a bar's house band for one night a week. And who knows, maybe that live performance is really great and seriously trumps anything on this recording. But, Trials really feels into the more mainstream elements of modern Metal for the three styles, especially with tracks like "Praise" and "Hammer" littering the field. Sure, the cleaner production leaving the instruments sounding lighter then they should outside the snare drums, which actually sound pretty good in the long run when they really come into play for faster moments of the album. If you're one of those people who like the whole edgier Alternative Rock scene and live bands that play lighter music or just sound lighter while style trying to be ballsy and have that Metal edge, then Witness to the Downfall will do a good job at keeping you entertained. But, really, there's just nothing here that hasn't been heard already, and when there's something good going on, there always seems to be something that kind of screws it up. It often sounds generic, it has a heavy enough edge to find the band outside the traditional "Mallcore" tag, and at times shows some great promise, like the pounding material of "Shadows and Traps". But for the most part, Witness to the Downfall is just an average offering of generic, staple ideas that are better suited to a band that plays the local bar scenes. This isn't to say Trials is a bad band, there are real moments of promise here, but in the end it does become understandable why the group isn't signed, and until they get some stronger material together, there's no real reason to sit through their debut offering, which you'll probably want to just walk away from after a few songs.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Clawhammer PR.
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