CD Review: Trap Lord - Drowning In The Wave (Classic Metal, 2017)

Wow, it's not to be heard often that young bands completly give their passion to the classic days of Metal. This record shows that roughness can be found out there if you're tired of all the polished music.

The front cover of Traplords "Drowning In The Wave" record, (c) by Traplord, used with kind permission

Summary

Having heard the songs of Trap Lord several times it gave me a deep reminder of how I started out with music. I used to listen from tapes. They give a direct and raw rendition of the music and that's what these track do for me, too.

Drawing inspiration of bands such as Motörhead and Saxon the music that can be heard sounds as if taken of a live show or rehearsal recording. The band doesn't give too much on polishing their music but instead cares more of the pure heavness. The guitars scream it all out on this one while drums and bass give a very basic note to it as if taken directly of the instruments without any other preparation done instead of attaching a microphone to it.

The fine thing is that slight modern elements have been sneaked into the sound with cleverness. They mix up the straight on forward sound every here and there but never ruin the listening enjoyment. The tempo varies and many groove parts add to the fun of the music. Most tunes come with shorter duration but less can be more - it's better in my ears to have straight good material instead lengthy stuff that doesn't hit the point.

Don't let the raw sound of this package give a negative impression. I enjoyed every minute of it. It feels natural this way and having started out with analogue equipment it inspired me to resurrect my tapes once again.

Album Stream and Purchase-Link

If you'd like to have a quick tip I  point you to the track "Idle Minds" (Song five). It gave me a great intoduction to this band and I hope it will make sure you jump on the train quickly.

The full release is available digitally on the band's Bandcamp page or check out the Heavy Baby Records Bandcamp page to get one of the limited physical copies of the release.

Contact Data

The band shows up on Facebook so make sure to follow the guys over there.

Vinyl Review: Heavy Baby Sea Slugs - The Minotaur / Trout Fishin' Man (2016)

A really raw piece of music, this experimental seven inch disc will make every listener happy who likes to endeavour something new and prefers to see music as a journey on his mind. It's like reading a book - everyone has a own imagination to the input that comes along.

Preface

It's not coming along often that a vinyl record fly's into my postbox but these days it happened and gave a good feeling to the writer of these lines. I mean how often do you touch one of these small round pieces of music in this times? The process alone of putting the vinyl on the table of the player, selecting the correct Round's per minute option and finally putting the tonearm carefully on the record is something special and sort of ritual.

The packaging

The double-sided cover itself is something unique - I've not seen something similar before. It reminds me of Iron Maidens old albums like Somewhere In Time or Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son where the full picture only comes to life when you add both the front and back cover. This one follows a similar concept and I like the way it's done. Good old handcrafted art. You rarely get to see this in 2016.

The cover of the Heavy Baby Sea Slugs 7' The Minotaur, (c) by Claire Taylor

The music

'The Minotaur' is centered around a doomy core and 'Trout Fishin Man' leans towards down-tuned noise rock. A really raw piece of music, but I love keeping it heavy and direct.

The Minotaur has a dark and heavy riff in it's center core. I like the way the groove spreads around this one. The haunting voices and effects give it a mighty atmosphere as if somehing bigger is sharing a message throughout the sound. A wall of sound that needs some closer listen to get fully through it.

Trout Fishin' Man: This song has a heavily distorted riff running through it. I needed some repeats to get to the point but you can hear that this has many layers put together all over. Surely a experimental track to be remembered. But no evolution has ever come from going the same ways over and over again. It always just happens where you try new paths. And that's what this track surely does.

Purchase-Link / Player

Do yourselfs a treat and purchase one of the limited edition seven inch vinyl records from the band's Bandcamp page directly. It comes along with one white and one black labeled side. Inside the cover you'll find the record as well as a little sheed with details about the release and the text of The Minotaur on the backside. The whole package is protected with a proper plastic foil bag. It all comes along handcrafted but with much love and dedication. Please support such efforts with your puchase. As for a first listen you can listen to the Heavy Baby Sea Slugs single right here.

Make sure to keep in touch with band during the Bandcamp page or see the Facebook presence of the record company of the band.