By Avinash Mittur
The Distortion Field has been a long time coming for Trouble fans. The band will forever be one of the earliest pioneers of doom metal, and their best albums remain among the most unique and original in their genre. That being said, it’s been rather depressing keeping up with Trouble’s activities over the past fifteen years. After releasing the phenomenal Plastic Green Head in 1995, the band slowly faded into obscurity. An attempted reunion with their celebrated original lineup bore little fruit; the resulting album, Simple Mind Condition, proved to be a noble failure and singer Eric Wagner and drummer Jeff ‘Oly’ Olson left the band not too long after its release. Fast forward to 2013 and original guitarists Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell have found themselves armed with one hell of a new weapon. Former Exhorder and Floodgate singer Kyle Thomas mans the mic for The Distortion Field, and the results are startlingly solid. This is the album that Trouble fans have deserved for years and years, and a more than worthy addition to one of doom metal’s best catalogs.
With Simple Mind Condition, the common complaint among fans was that the album was nowhere near as heavy as Trouble’s classic offerings. Well apparently Franklin and Wartell were holding out on us; the opening cut on The Distortion Field, ‘When the Sky Comes Down’, is easily the heaviest Trouble song since the towering tracks from their self-titled album from 1990. The cut immediately harkens back to ‘The Tempter’ from Psalm 9, with both songs sharing a spooky intro and surging, chugging verses, but the vocals are anything but a throwback. Thomas immediately proves his chops with his full throated and husky wail- ‘chops’ is the key word here though. Wagner nearly always sounded like he was at the edge of his range, that his voice would combust at any given second whereas Thomas displays obvious skill and virtuosity at every turn with his performance on The Distortion Field, and proves to be a surprisingly great fit for the band. The man truly exceeds on the doomy cuts like ‘When the Sky Comes Down’ and the lumbering behemoth, ‘One Life’. Yes formerly scorned Trouble fans, there are doom metal songs on this album, and they are awesome.
Trouble haven’t completely forgotten the melodic sensibility they picked up in the ‘90s though, and it ends up being put to great use in ‘Sink or Swim’. A massive groove, a tasty harmonized solo from Franklin and Wartell and a shockingly catchy chorus come together for a heavy yet accessible sound that Trouble have hinted at throughout their career, but never really perfected until now. It was a bold move, one that could have really backfired on them, but ‘Sink or Swim’ is a truly mighty addition to the Trouble canon- the guys would be stupid to omit it from the live show from here on out. Franklin and Wartell are back in a big way on this album, with nearly every track containing a great solo from either of the two, and the best songs featuring their long-lost harmonies. Notice how all these great tracks are located near the beginning of the album- the first half of The Distortion Field might be some of Trouble’s best work in over two decades.
Unfortunately, things start to wind down from ‘One Life’ onwards. Clocking in at nearly an hour, this record could have used a good deal of trimming, especially when the last half of the album mines the same mid-tempo hard rock territory over and over again. Now these are still decent songs however, ‘Glass of Lies’ swings with bluesy classic rock swagger while ‘Sucker’ gives Franklin and Wartell the chance to show off some killer pentatonic licks and a bit of call and response with Thomas, but the last half of The Distortion Field sadly ends up largely blending together. Having the album end with the plodding (yet individually pretty great) ‘Your Reflection’ doesn’t help things. Maybe this issue could have been solved with smarter track sequencing and maybe the iTunes generation won’t give a damn, but as it stands The Distortion Field ends up being a lot more frontloaded than it should be.
Despite that notable criticism, Trouble should feel pretty proud of themselves. They have crafted a record that contains some soon to be classics, and not a single lame cut. That’s a pretty badass achievement after all this time. As for the new guy, Kyle Thomas has more than proved himself capable of carrying the torch for Trouble. The dude can really sing, and one would be a damn fool to ignore The Distortion Field purely because of Eric Wagner’s absence. What we’ve got here are a handful of Trouble’s best songs in decades, and a bunch of solid cuts that don’t offend or besmirch their recorded legacy. A good record, and welcome return for one of America’s most under-appreciated bearers of the heavy.
Rating: 7.5/10
Related: In-depth interview with Trouble guitarist Rick Wartell
Record Label: FRW Records
Release Date:
July 16th 2013
Track Listing:
1. When the Sky Comes Down
2. Paranoia Conspiracy
3. The Broken has Spoken
4. Sink or Swim
5. One Life
6. Have I Told You
7. Hunters of Doom
8. Glass of Lies
9. Butterflies
10. Sucker
11. Greying Chill of Autumn
12. Bleeding Alone
13. Your Reflection
Links:
newtrouble.com
facebook.com/TroubleChicago