Trusted Few

Futatsu EP

Written by: PP on 12/08/2008 16:11:36

In an age where bands are striving to avoid being labeled screamo because of the negative connotations that genre has come to contain, it's refreshing to have a band like Denmark's Trusted Few aiming for the pure opposite. As their fans remember from their self titled debut EP, these guys don't adhere to any scene discussions and are writing screamo purely because of their passion to the genre, which can be heard even better on their new EP "Futatsu".

Because for every technical quality that their singer/screamer Johan lacks, he compensates it with unadulterated passion, always sounding like he is giving 110% to the songs. This is best seen in "Hold On To My Hat, I Think It's A Sin", which leaves me convinced that their recording studio can't possibly be intact after a vocal performance as passionate as that. Back up vocalist Andreas chips in as well, as during his "she was lying on the floor" bits one can hear him truly step into character, much more so than on the debut EP, giving nice contrast to the screaming.

In terms of the music, their songwriting has improved substantially, moving away from the simple pleasures of "Rotating Stars..." into a more progressive format, where more focus has been laid on quiet/loud dynamics, and more explosive buildups and breakdowns. Both the aforementioned "Hold On To My Hat..." and "Frozen Area" display this sort of character, further suggesting that one day Trusted Few will be fighting in the big international screamo leagues. Additionally, their new songs have a bigger sense of identity to them, as they sound like Trusted Few and not really like anyone else; The UnderOATH / Across Five Aprils / From First To Last influence isn't as clearly audible as it was on their debut EP.

Still, the Trusted Few formula isn't quite complete yet as can be seen from "Turn Down The Lights", easily the weakest song the band has written to date. It just isn't catchy enough and fails to make an impression on me. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about the song that makes me skip it half way through each time, so I won't attempt to write anything pretentious here, and instead will just say that it certainly isn't as explosive as "Consuming Me" was nor as memorable as "Rotating Stars...".

But what was Trusted Few's biggest problem on their debut EP is still their biggest problem on "Futatsu EP": the all-too-typical production style for a Danish band. There's lots of evidence of trying to make the material sound as heavy and as "live" as possible, where a softer and smoother production would've done the songs wonders. The metallic guitars just don't sound as nice as the polished ones do when it comes to screamo, and I'm certainly left hoping the band will experiment with that for their eventual next release.

Overall, "Futatsu EP" is pretty much on the same level as their debut EP, with a couple of incredible songs, and two to three marginally stationed between good, decent, and weak. That said, there's lots of improvement and the band sounds much more professional than they did on their debut EP, hopefully attracting some label attention soon. To place these guys in a recording studio with a good producer and plenty of time could result in monumental results. Lets hope that becomes a reality!

Download: Hold On To My Hat I Think It's A Sin
For the fans of: Knife Of Liberty, A Place Called Here, UnderOATH
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.06.2008
UNSIGNED BAND

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