TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED – The Great Depression

In 1995, Anthrax sang against “Random Acts Of Senseless Violence”. In 2006, The British Metal band, Trigger The Bloodshed, said the total opposite and you can judge that by their chosen name. If you are really into New School Death Metal fused with massive Grindcore influence and senseless violence in the vein of Dutch Grave and The Black Dahlia Murder, bear notice that this one is bloody as hell. Trigger The Bloodshed came to show how aggressive and mean British Death Metal can be and with their aggressiveness and high caliber speed of Grindcore mania, Benediction and Bolt Thrower can watch and see the next stage of evolution. But judging by the band’s music and image, is this the next step in British Death Metal?

Trigger The Bloodshed have unleashed their second release, The Great Depression , which is kind of a challenging, even controversial, title that you can translate in many ways. The best example in mind is the economical depression, which has been eating the global economy for months. But who knows if that is their real purpose. The positive thing regarding the band is that they are not messing with nonsense like Pig Destroyer; they do it to inflict something else.

This second album was released under the band’s new label, Metal Blade Records, who signed them last summer. 3 years ago the band was formed , a year later they caught the eye of Rising Records with whom the band released their first single and their debut album, Purgation. Now, with a fistful of angry music and soaring madness, after a very short time, the guys are back with another bite of a bloody massacre with a high quality production that makes this one a battering ram.

The Great Depression album has something that is regarded as most special in Death Metal and Grindcore subgenres and that is technicality and a musician talent for aggressive and an accurate speedy style of playing.

For those of you who worship the old ways of the Old School Death Metal, this band is nowhere there. New School Death Metal added with Grindcore takes a lot of perfection and practice on the instruments. In this album, the guitars are amazing, the riffs of the first two tracks will blow your mind , what speed , power , hell it’s damned hell music. The bass goes along with the guitarists and this one seems like a well talented figure of playing that spews accuracy. The riffs themselves are half melodic, when you play with B tuning you get more options on the other low chords so the result can be quite good. The problem with the riffs is that in several areas in the album they are repeating themselves. Here and there, you have a different tune but the pattern is the same without a doubt. For example, in the beginning, if you are not listening closely you will not notice when the first track is over and the next one is marching in. Another thing to show you that Old School is evident here is the lack of solos; there are only two solos in this release. The good thing is that they are great and are in the right timing.

Another example of pure, high quality tech ability is the drumming. Man , this drummer has legs of rubber and his grinding speed punching is well tuned with the other members. The sad part is that most of the time it’s just speed and speed and more speed. It’s rare to catch a slow tempo or even mid-tempo parts.

The worst thing regarding this sub-genre , especially in its New School form , is the vocals. When you think about it a question pops up – why do these types of bands feel so compelled and obligated to write out lyrics when you cannot understand a word the vocalist is blubbering? It’s known that the importance of the lyrics are a matter of a huge argument surrounding this subject. But do know that when you listen to Bolt Thrower, Benediction, In Flames or even the long retired US band, Revenant, you don’t have to check the booklet all the time, of course if you are interested in knowing the lyrics, to see in what verse the vocalist is at. Don’t get the wrong idea, when it comes to deep growling technique, this guy has it, but it’s hard to understand what he wishes to provide his audience.

However, the downfalls, The Great Depression has some cool stuff to offer you Death Metal maniacs, even to you Old School fans. “The Great Depression” hits like a wintery storm with sheer speed of riffs that have their blackish angle. “The Infliction Of Tophet” has a cool slow tempo heavy rhythm which reminds some of Death/Thrash playing until hell breaks loose again and it’s back to the grinds, yet its solos are amazing and flowing. “Desiccate Earth’s” best specialty is the great solos it possesses.

Trigger The Bloodshed, as a band , are skilled dudes with high technical ability but their stuff has its share of recycling itself regarding riffs and drum notes. However, they can screw some heads around with their material. Good Luck dudes.