Friday, November 1, 2013

TRAINWRECK ARCHITECT: "Traits Of The Sick"


Rating: RRR
Label: Asher Media/TA 2013
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

"Sometimes life is a Trainwreck. But we're responsible for our own actions and we are the Architects of our own destruction sometimes". I believe you noticed the key word here as the Canadians of Trainwreck Architects are spot on sometimes with their Thrash Metal and sometimes all over the map with dodgy cookie monster vocals. There's however no need to worry about the overall clean and excellent vocals by Simon Ouellet. It's mostly old school metal and very much in the tradition of the eighties and acts such as (early) Annihilator, Prong, Pro-Pain, Testament, the mere hint of the punky metal of Skid Row ála Slave To The Grind. The odd track feature those awful black metal screams and hardcore metal though and I always tend to skip the last couple of tracks.

"Traits of the Sick", mastered by Jeff Waters of Annihilator, whom also makes a guest appearance with a guitar solo, the record features an eclectic mix of Thrash, classic metal and rock and deals with the idea of humans being human and never willing to be completely satisfied. Each track is an individual burst of gunfire riffing and dito vocals, and the band sound very true and natural that it fair brings a tear of nostalgia to your eye. Bassist Eric Litinas and drummer Marc-Antoine Blackburn form two natural focus points as they work hard and sound tight throughout the album.

It's a pretty raw production ála 80s underground Thrash and do not expect today's slick production when you go overboard on everything with the use of pro-tools and what not really. Clearly Trainwreck Architects' songwriting approach is to create as interesting drum rhythm as possible with headbanging mosh-pit rhythmical guitar work and the aggressive yet melodic melody. Backup gang vocals and constantly flashy solos by the two axe-masters (Khan/Baril) are only to be expected. Manic music, yet strickly controlled and steeped into the form of 80s/early 90s Thrash and Metal.
http://trainwreckarchitect.bandcamp.com/

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