Trigon Fed Up (2017) Album Review

Ottawa, Ontario’s Trigon will release their debut full-length album, Fed Up, on March 24, 2017, and this band is definitely something you should be paying attention to. It’s at once raucous, gloomy, pensive, high-energy, gritty, and damn well-constructed.

With 11 tracks, which includes the short “Intro,” Trigon delivers a huge stripped-down punch to the rock genre. The band will certainly appeal to fans of Ghost, Ancient VVisdom, and others belonging to the melodic occult doom genre, but Trigon seems to have veered off that path like a misbehaving, malcontent child.

While still keeping their balance on the rickety fence that separates pure rock from doom, Trigon’s tempo is often upbeat, despite having that down-tuned fuzzed-out sound of ’70s era rock and punk. But Trigon is more than a doom metal band gone askew. Within their sound you’ll find such elements as The Replacements in vocal delivery, bass lines, and guitar solos (“Talk to Me”), and as strange it sounds, even Pink Floyd and The Police (“Nightmare,” the Freddy Krueger homage).

The assumed influences don’t stop there. “Obsessed” opens with a rough and solid guitar riff that brings early KISS to mind, and maybe something like Nazareth. Not long after the song begins, Corey Hall comes in from behind the kit sounding every bit as powerful as John Bonham (Led Zeppelin). On the same track, you might even catch a glimpse of Joey Ramone-like vocals.

Doom and rough-edged rock isn’t all that you get on Fed Up, as there are a couple of gear-shifting “ballads” to give you a breather. First is “Jaded,” which appears to be about a love gone wrong. Then, toward the end of the album there’s “Mother,” which is a heartfelt goodbye to a mother lost to disease.

Getting you good and depressed with “Mother,” Trigon reinvigorates your spirit with “Your Life,” a track that should have you jumping up and down like a hardcore emo kid.

The album’s closer is a great finisher and might have you thinking of Pearl Jam, it’s the penultimate track, “Nightmare,” that is the masterpiece on Fed Up. The diversity of sound here along with the horror-themed lyrics is simply brilliant.

The Verdict:

While bassist and vocalist Emanuel Viau claims that Lemmy would be proud of the rock ‘n’ roll contained on Fed Up, it’s my opinion that any fan of hard rock or heavy metal would be proud to have this album in his/her collection. The fullness of the sound on the album makes it hard to believe that this is just a three-piece outfit. Sure, there are layers, and only a live performance will tell if the richness will be maintained, but I’m betting that it is. If the diversity of influences (aka, “sounds like”) worries you, rest assured that Trigon seems to have picked out the best parts of bands they like, smashed them together, and crafted songs that just work on every level.

On March 24th, Trigon’s Fed Up will be available on iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, and all major online retailers.

Rock Hard \m/