Artist: Trapt
Label: Eleven seven music
Release: 2011
Rating: 3/5
Trapt are those clever lads who somehow popped up on the scene just as grunge was fading out. With their fifth album “No Apologies” they won’t win over any new fans, but they’ll definitely hold on to the old ones, since the new record successfully follows in the footsteps of their earlier work. “No Apologies” is thus a Trapt album from head to toe, bound by the limits of their message as the post-grunge movement understands it.
Unlike their heavier peers Korn or Deftones, not to mention Slipknot, Trapt have always been seen as a band that, from the moment they appeared on the scene, mixed in a whole lot more alternative rock on one side and, on the other, naturally, trivially melodic pop sensibilities. Groove rhythms and a production-wound bass line hugging a wall of riffs are what give the music its spark of dynamics and life.
Trapt have stuck with lyrics dealing with teenage troubles and their rebellion against the machine of conformity, if we can call it that. There’s certainly no shortage of naivety, and with such shallow lyrical messages they can’t really win over anyone born after 1987 (and up). It’s hard to justify that kind of “rebellion”, especially when the shallowness of the lyrics is backed up by the pathos of a often tearfully whimpering vocal. But what’s the point of complaining? All of post-grunge is full of this stuff.
Trapt save the whole thing with excellent production and, of course, a dose of pomp, as much as the hybrid alt-metal riff culture can still muster. The songs are short, direct, compact and strictly predictable, since they’re built on four or five chords, but mounted on the suspension of ultra-grooving rhythmic bombast that actually keeps the songs in the necessary “drive” and gives them enough flavor. A cunningly sweet wrapper, then, that can hold even the most acrid contents of dubious origin.
Fans of the band will be thrilled with the album, since it sums up everything that “Only Through The Pain” and, before it, “Someone in Control” already offered. Songs like Sound Off (also released as the album’s first single), Head Up High, End Of My Rope, Get Up, Overloaded and the title track will get under the skin of anyone familiar with the band in no time. What sets them apart is really just the dose of captured noisiness. For example, the song No Apologies sounds softer, but the groove pulsing inside it stands out all the more, which is an excellent compensation in terms of production and a solution for filling out the available spectrum of the given sound picture. The band tries to break up the “single-frequency” feel of the songs even with the occasional acoustic arrangement, which is less convincing (The Wind), while the closing track Storyteller chases the energy of the title track, with a less interesting chorus motif that the band has already used elsewhere.
A massive wall of riffs, melodic, pop-leaning, catchy vocals, and of course lively “groove” rhythm voltage. A proven formula with which Trapt keep their legacy alive. They remain cautious and, in terms of artistic development, completely uninteresting. Still, with “No Apologies” they’ll always sound convincing enough to their existing base of listeners. And that’s also the extent of their reach. Anyone who hasn’t followed the band since the start of the new millennium, when they broke onto the scene with their self-titled studio album, will have a really hard time getting into them. They’re a tad too soft for the new times, and increasingly out of step genre-wise too. But as said, “No Apologies” will surely be a thrilling release for the band’s fans. The band, however, is no longer moving forward with it.
Review was made in collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
Lineup
Chris Brown – vocals, guitar
Robb Torres- guitar
Pete Charell – bass guitar
Aaron ‘Monty’ Montgomery – drums, percussion
Production
Johnny K
Tracklist
1. Sound Off
2. Drama Queen
3. End of My Rope
4. Get Up
5. No Apologies
6. Stranger in the Mirror
7. Beautiful Scar
8. Are You With Me
9. The Wind
10. Overloaded
11. Storyteller
