Trials - in ep

Trials 

In EP
self-released; 2013

3.8 out of 5

By Sean Dennison

I'm way ambivalent toward these three songs on Trials release entitled In EP. What a combative way to kick off a review. Let me back up a bit. Trials is from Lakeland, FL, and create a – get ready for it – emodelic brand of rock music by combining electrifying electric guitar, finely orchestrated melodrama, punished whisperings and yellings. Finally, in a risky move that pays off, calculatedly off-production.

I know, right?

This music is perfect for the adult in our former teenagers. Emotive guitar playing is the winner on this, shredding across the already-torn canvas the fellow bandmates create. And there are TWO guitars along with steady, sometimes jazzy, bass, laying out the carpet for alleyway rumbling drumming. There is little comfort here, but plenty of angst and disappointment (like from the musicians, the music itself is not disappointing, actually, it's rather pointing).

The production is mad weird. Nothing really blends, every song's individual component feel as if it’s shifting over the others. That's where the drug-influences come in. It's fun keeping up with the instruments and hearing the band trying out effects pedals, notably the voice fader, which figures heavily into the songs' heavier moments. That's really what makes this effort so brave. It sounds so wounded and yet so strong. It's like in their song "In Rebirth." These guys are young, and brimming with energy and confidence, overexcited from them, even. They have plenty of time to craft their sound, and even if the production is hit-or-miss, the music is still affecting.The stormy, uneven grit Trials creates is the perfect soundtrack to this narrative, which, according to them journeys through neurosis, somnambulism, and schizophrenia in the pursuit of happiness. 

Did I say I was ambivalent? I take it back; let's just call these guys good.

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