Three Angry Lads

Trevor's Head - Tricolossus (2016) 
 

 

Trevor's Head is a punk outfit soaked and drenched in bong water, and hailing from Redhill, a borough of Surrey, England which was from the years 1881 to 1884 was the home to Aleister Crowley and his loving family.  If you don't know him please Google him, read a book, draw a pentagram with goat's blood, bring up the devil, and ask "Hey there Satan, would you be so kind as to tell me about the third coolest British guy ever behind the Davids Bowie and Beckham?".  But I digress.  They're a trio consisting of (I'm choosing to believe the names provided on the band's Facebook page are the band member's real names and what their moms call them) Riffs McGregor on guitar, Clive Beats on drums, and DB Grooveson on bass.  But the Bandcamp is probably more accurate.  There, their names and positions are Roger Atkins on guitar and vocals; Matt Ainsworth on drums, flute, synthesizer and vocals; and Aaron Strachan on bass, acoustic guitar, organ and vocals.   They've had a few releases since 2012, including a self-titled eight song collection, and a couple of singles, called Juice and Otherside. But this here is a review for their newest album, Tricolossus. 

Kicking off the album is "Blood Moon" with steady drums and confidently angry vocals, which turns into a bluesy jam with flutes and a stomp-inducing riff.  "Government Whores" talks about my favorite subject in metal, collecting a black magical force.  But the woven segments of each instrument take on a psychedelic edge that consistently collect and divide throughout.  "Deep Blue Fish" and "Idiot Time" are mixed with various stories I was told while being tucked into bed when I was a child, bastardized together with powerful punk rock themes in a wonderful way until a more personal side is displayed for "Ordinary Kind" and "But a Scratch", where the fury of the singers is fully portrayed.  And these ideas of anger, of fairy tales, and of relationships are all stuffed full of those riffs and beats and various singing styles that rip you in every direction imaginable.   An album highlight is definitely closer "Casa De Eduardo", a track that's so fun and completely devoid of caring about conforming to a singular idea or song structure.  And that's exactly what I've taken as the point of this album. They're a group of three experimental and talented  friends who've completely found themselves and throw any form of normalcy and thrown it to the wayside.  And the journey they've taken on the album in incredibly enjoyable.

~Richard
 

For Fans Of: Mr. Bungle, Rancid, Tomahawk, Faith No More, Dog Fashion Disco 

Facebook • Bandcamp

~

Any Altitude

Drifter ~ Violent at Altitude (2014)

This rowdy three piece from Australia have been making a name for themselves over the last few years, with two releases of what they've dubbed as "flannelcore". The idea of their sound, mixing old school 70's punk rock and the fuzzed out sounds of stoner rock isn't new, but seldom is it done this well. They manage to balance everything nicely, from fuzz and aggression, to shouted sort of anthem styled vocals, and breakneck punk rock jams to the slower, heavy riffing of stoner rock. All of that packed into a solitary band and it almost seems effortless in the delivery. With thirteen tracks on the album, they have a lot to work with, and every song is pretty unique in its own right. When you come to "Hindsight" the third track, it's a pretty melodic, heavy stoner rock track with some grunge sprinkled on top.  Then on the very next song, "Bad" they go a completely different direction. Leaning pretty heavily toward the punk rock side of things, they come out with a Ramones sort of delivery to the whole song, especially the hook of "I kill to live". A few more tracks in you come across "Another Life", with the longest duration at just over four minutes, it's a much more atmospheric song than you find on the rest of the album, alternating between slamming hard rock riffs, and more subdued, melodic sections. With the diversity found from song to song, it'd take me forever to give you a detailed rundown of it all. If any of this sounds enticing, you can pick up the CD or download for this album over on Desert Highway's bandcamp, and their first EP "Head" at their own bandcamp.
 ~Skip

For Fans Of; Mammoth Mammoth, The Phuss, The Ramones

Facebook • Desert Highway's Bandcamp • Drifter Bandcamp