Trapt - 'Trapt' (Warner)
3/5
By: Toby L
Lord, give us strength...
Another one - that is to say, a grisly-guitared newcomer that slays the Great American Public with a series of nu-me(n)talist odes with as much charisma as a freshly run-over wombat.
But, wait - that's far too harsh. To contradict the masses entitled to a record-purchasable opinion is both crass and just so weekly music-paper.
But what just is it that Trapt are trying to bowl us over with? If recent single 'Headstrong' is anything to go by - it's a keyboard-doused, melodic, slick and uber-taut piece of emo-rock, yet where's the bite? With the likes of Funeral For A Friend and even Muse's return kicking our asses into intense overdrive, what can a blaring, eleven-tracker from a new US sensation truly engage to the senses?
Seemingly, just a decent-ish pop-album - not that it's a feat to be greatly shamed upon. When the flat distortion slows to a subtle growl and allows chiming guitar-parts and infectious choruses to rule the roost ('Hollowman', 'These Walls'), the package bears that much more allure - enough scope to exceed the confined, commonly panned proportions of Staind et al. Although when it comes to the slow-burning, harmonised sensitive-boyo moment ('Echo'), the lads seem so far up Incubus' collective, honed arsehole that you fear for their eventual escape (suddenly, the origins of the name 'Trapt' are unveiled...).
Still, a debut-LP, and the signs are hopeful - the commercial-slaying of the States seems inevitable, Euro-territories set to follow... Yet if only there was just more to the package to truly warrant hysteria.
Artists in this article: Trapt
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