Written by: Nick Ashton
Band:
Album Title:
Release Date:
Trouble County
Blacken The Sky
Out Now!
The debut album from Portsmouth’s Trouble County is a thing of dark and twisted beauty. It might require a few listens to truly appreciate its despair-filled lows and redemption seeking highs, but the effort is well rewarded. Like many brutally honest and soul-searching works, there is a cathartic nature to the music which takes you to places where, but for luck, fate or the grace of God (delete as appropriate), you may have ended up too. The primary theme across the album is a cry for help from someone in the depths of alcohol addiction who knows that they have hit rock bottom yet again, hurting those that love them along the way but unable to break the cycle (Wasted, Awake, Rapturous Me, Gotta Try, Drink Some More). Elsewhere there are barbed attacks on religious zealots (You Again), corporate greed (John Baker) and disregard for the damage that we are doing to the environment (12 Gauge Blues, Blacken the Sky).
Vocally there are stylistic echoes of Scott Weiland, Layne Staley and Axl Rose combined into a sneering howl of self-loathing and contempt for the abusers of both the planet and its people. Combined with the heavy stoner riffs that were born in the back streets of Sabbath’s Birmingham and took root in Seattle, there is a superficial air of ’90s grunge familiarity. But dig a little deeper and other reference points emerge. The dirty southern riff at the heart of Wasted could easily be heard playing on a jukebox as Ronnie Van Zant picks a fight with some good ol’ boys, whereas the start-stop drumming in Drive calls to mind Zepp’s The Ocean. Trouble County have taken these influences, thrown them into the melting pot and created a sound which is distinctly retro while adding modern flourishes that bring us bang up to date.
If all of this sounds like po-faced preaching then fear not, because out of the misery a thing of beauty has bloomed. The riff-heavy stoner blues guitar work of Julian Holman (vocals / guitar) is sure to get your head nodding in approval while the skintight rhythm section (Mark Penton on bass and Spencer Watson on drums) can drive the songs forward at a zippy pace or slow them down to treacle-wading sludge. I have yet to experience the band live, but I can easily imagine being aurally assaulted by wave upon wave of down tuned lysergic riffage. The story telling, while dealing with serous topics, is vivid and fully immersive. It doesn’t take first hand experience of living with an alcoholic to appreciate their self-destructive nature. Awake’s lumbering Sabbath-esque riff is a perfect match for the self-pity of a drunk who has fallen off the wagon yet again. Desperado talks about the heavy price that must be paid by loved ones while the monolithic riff pounds your skull like the worst hangover ever. Drink Some More has a funky little ZZ Top shuffle as our anti-hero imbibes and smokes his way through anything and everything that he can get his hands on. Elsewhere there is a proggy core at the heart of 12 Gauge Blues with keyboard flourishes bringing something different to the mix before we return to more familiar open riffing territory. Lust rears its lascivious head in Drive’s stuttering tale of desire. ‘I don’t want ya cos I just need ya’ as basic instinct kicks in and it’s ‘time to drive’. After taking a cold shower, the album calms down and closes with the lilting, semi-acoustic The Debt We Pay which talks about the tension between parental beliefs and those of the younger generation (kudos for coming up with ‘Monotheistic, mundane. Worshipping one single God in vain.’ as a couplet!).
Overall, this is an album that rewards repeated listening. You can take it at face value and wallow in the riffage, which is overwhelming and suffocating (in a good way!) and will undoubtedly be a joy to experience live. Or you can listen to the stories that are told across 12 dark and twisted songs, where despair triumphs more often than hope, and reflect on the good things in your own life.
Trouble County are:
Julian ‘Joolz’ Holman – Vocals/Guitar
Mark ‘Marky Mark’ Penton – Bass Guitar/BVox
Spencer ‘JD’ Watson – Drums/BVox
Track Listing
- Wasted (Explicit)
- Awake
- Rapturous Me (Explicit)
- Gotta Try
- 12 Gauge Blues
- Desperado
- John Baker
- You Again (Explicit)
- Drive
- Drink Some More
- Blacken The Sky
- The Debt We Pay