By:
Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 30/09/2017
Label: APF Records
…combining distorted
guitars, chugging bass and flicks of vocal melody trapped under a crushing
boulder of decomposing blackened death metal. It is raw and piercing in a
fashion you cannot reasonably expect on a debut. But there it is, moldering for
your delight.
“Tronald”
CD//DD track listing
1.
Tronald
2.
Boss Keloid Are Shit
3.
Obelisk Ov Hash
4.
Dalnort
5.
Gains (Prelude)
6.
Vegan Gains
7.
Get Your Grubby Little Hands Off My Bennell
8.
Burgled Senseless
The
Review:
Over
the next four years, it is all but assured that you will hear the voice of U.S.
President Donald Trump a lot more in extreme music than you ever thought
possible. Some of it will certainly be based in outright opposition; there have
been a trickling of music thus far critical of the new Commander in Chief by
everyone from Prophets of Rage to rapper YG, whose "Fuck
Donald Trump" last year gained the California native a lot more
notoriety than he previously had. However, much more from metal will surely be
inspired by Trump's strongman persona. His over-the-top threats and flowery
promises from a world leader are the stuff of Megadeth
and Queensryche concept recordings. Hearing
President Trump's bluster on "Danlort,"
off Tronald's self-titled debut, you may be
reminded that this period could musically be a very long four to eight years.
The
specter of power is one that metal has reflexively rebelled against, whether it
is the doctrines of organized Christian faith, authoritarians of every stripe or
the stricter social norms that define mainstream culture. Usually such aggression
is answered with the sort of musical force that only metal can deliver.
For
you, "Tronald" may be just
that kind of soundtrack. No stress if you are already at peak-Trump, peak-knee
or whatever outrage is happening at the second. The Manchester, UK namesake do
not come across as an expressly political collective. Tronald
is, however, well suited to deliver an assertive and uncompromisingly heavy
recording. Just as exciting, the listener gets treated to an inventive group
with a fiery first outing in its new self-titled release.
What
makes Tronald so engaging to catch is the
diversity of its approach. Ticking in at just under 20 minutes, the eight
tracks on "Tronald" are one
of the more interesting collections you will hear this fall. From practicing a
chorus to the previously mentioned Trump snippets, Tronald mixes
in its doom and sludge-heavy style a healthy dose of experimentation. Whether
it is a hardcore/thrash chord or two in "Vegan
Gains" or grinding pace of "Bennel,"
you hear a band that is crafting what it may eventually be in the future. Right
now, Tronald does many things quite well, at
least in small spurts – more than half the cuts are less than two minutes. Long
enough to be intriguing, but short enough to make you wonder what comes next.
On
"Obelisk," Tronald's longest song, you get perhaps a better sense of
what the quintet is capable of. The doom track creates a humid scene around it,
one that combines distorted guitars, chugging bass and flicks of vocal melody
trapped under a crushing boulder of decomposing blackened death metal. You get
the picture. It is raw and piercing in a fashion you cannot reasonably expect
on a debut. But there it is, moldering for your delight.
Discerning
fans will count several influences, and Tronald does not break
particularly new ground just yet. However, the band gets off to a rousing
start. And one has to feel optimistic about its future.
"Tronald" is available here:
