Reviewed by Christian Cunningham

Trenches have produced a slick sounding 10-track opening volley. Hailing from Nashville/Indianapolis, this is a competent piece of music. Many tracks have an ambient, atmospheric nature reminiscent of Cult Of Luna or the marvellous Isis. Once the guitars are unleashed, they growl and bite with savage low end snarl and the rhythm section lays down a heaviness easily suitable for thumping roads flat with. Ex-Haste The Day man Jimmy Ryan is a talented vocalist and his ragged roar sounds rather magnificent; check tracks such as "The Calling" or "Trip The Landmine" to hear the full extent of his abilities, ably spewing out a poisonous acid of powerful lyrics. So, they sound great, but do the tunes live up to it? Well, almost. There are some great moments on this CD; but there are disappointing ones too. Trenches have a tendency to do too much atmosphere and not enough crushing, since it's in the crushing that their strength lies! The songs are crafted well and this is a good start for the new band, but I cannot help feeling that it will take another record for them to iron out the exploratory material and make a record truly worthy of their talents.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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