Traitor – Last Hope For The Wretched
First Blood Family Records
Release Date: 08/07/22
Running Time: 45:11
Review by Simon Black
6/10
This version of Traitor hail from Philadelphia USA and are not to be confused by the German Thrashers of the same name. Which is pretty darned hard when you play in a similar genre and does make one wonder if any research went into the name before labelling as such, but then since both acts have an established discography under the same moniker, then let market forces decide. This act is more traditional Metal in inspiration, although there’s no small amount of Thrashiness in there, particularly in vocal style and lyrical choice but a little bit of Progressive zest and a real 80’s Retro feel to mix things up a little. The album was released on vinyl a while back, but is getting a dust down for its CD release.
I found this quite a frustrating record to review, because for every point that reached out and made me smile, there was a counterpoint to make me frown. Let’s start with the production. In 2022 I don’t cut a lot of slack if the production values are a little below par, because the technology is so much more readily available in this day and age. Now admittedly, I’m a lot more generous with my precious points if an act hails from a far-flung part of the world with a struggling economy and not much of a metal scene, as this means the all-important Producer and Engineer roles tend not to have a clue how to capture Metal well, but for a band on their fourth LP I do expect this element to be well under control.
Now, unfortunately, there’s a bit of a retro trend and fad of trying to make music sound like it was recorded in the early 80’s on analogue equipment still going on, which personally drives me to distraction having lived through that period. In my amateur opinion, bands should focus on they style of writing if a retro-feel is their go and keep the sound modern, as modern audiences really have little tolerance for cheap-sounding recordings. That said, there’s a certain naïve charm of the demo like feel this piece has, which actually bristles with raw energy and no small amount of honesty, and now perhaps you see what I mean about the struggles this love / hate of a record is giving me.
Next up – the players. Despite the annoyingly trebly production sound, there’s some serious pounding and thundering going on in the rhythm section, if you can get past the mix and focus on the beats and what’s actually being played – although the bass is quite hard to pick out as the band seem to have done a bit of a Jason Newstead on bass player Tony “Gloves” Didonato, so far back in the mix is he. That’s the trouble with retro production aping, which is a shame as when you can hear him, he raises the eyebrows.
In fact, there’s clearly a lot of significant technical skill across the board here, especially from lead guitarist and vocalist Greg Lundmark. Now singing and playing at the same time is never easy, and I raise my hat to anyone who even tries to pull this off, but in this instance the guitar player wins over the singer. He’s a seriously good player and some of the shredding, bridges and instrumental breaks are worthy of serious scrutiny, as he really knows what to do with a six string. Vocally however, I found him to be the weak link of the band, unfortunately. Although he can hit the highs from time to time, the screams sound somewhat forced and the vocal phrasing slightly frustrates, as it suffered from the age-old challenge for any singer with a strap round his neck, which is separating the lyrical phrasing from the rhythm lines. Now, I know that’s a staple of Thrash, but there’s more in their musical mix than that and it feels like an opportunity wasted, particularly as the more Progressive touches in their songs are screaming for a vocalist who can step back from the rhythms and do something complimentary, rather than being a slave to the riffing. This might be a case of thinking about separating the roles, as the rare cases in Speed music when this works is when the vocalist delivers mainly rhythm, rather than lead parts.
What does work though is the overall song-writing, which is focussed, crisp and incredibly tightly delivered, although again the counterpoint is that a little more stylistic variety might have made this a bit more diverse. Despite the highs and lows, I’m interested enough to want to know more, and you might do too…
TRACKLISTING:
01. Sintroducer/Take Over
02. Zed
03. Baptized in Fire
04. Why They Fear the Night
05. Antietam
06. Drifter
07. Under Attack
08. Raise the Black
09. Luxury
LINE-UP:
Greg Lundmark – Lead Guitar/Lead Vocals
Brian Mikus – Rhythm Guitar/Backup Vocals
Tony “Gloves” Didonato – Bass
Joe Rado – Drums/Backup & Lead Vocal
LINKS:
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