Review Summary: the quote “Tragedy inspires great art” couldn’t be more aptly applied to Trophy Scar’s latest EP.
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This EP marks the darkest year of my life. The lyrics exploit the surreal occurrences between your waking moments and your rational perception of physical information... The Summer of 09 changed me, whether I like it or not, and it seems that I am in some place between a nightmare and reality.”
Jerry Jones has changed, people. No longer engulfed with teen angst and rage as he boldly exclaims in his blog, “I don't want to scream anymore - I'm damn near 26”. His growth as a lyricist and the band’s continued progression is exponential - incalculable, perhaps. Gone are the overuse of senselessly regurgitated breakdowns and novel hip-hop inspired moments. Instead, the band’s narrative approach has completely taken hold, and as a result they’ve fabricated very engaging short stories with the accompaniment of trumpet, french horn, trombone, saxophone, flute, violin, vibra-slap, rainstick, xylophone, congas, electric and acoustic guitar, etc. It’s literally all here - an amalgam of instruments you’d expect to hear a band like The Mars Volta using, but without the pretense. Somehow it’s all strung together nicely without sounding bloated or over-the-top, which begs the question: who else in this genre is making music of this caliber and sounding as wholeheartedly genuine in doing so? The six songs on
Darkness, Oh Hell wield the power to transport you through time as Trophy Scars pay homage to blues and classical rock.
As for the music at hand, Trophy Scars adopt the same style as
Bad Luck with subtle undertones throughout. That is to say that those partial to
Bad Luck’s style and sound will likely find
Darkness, Oh Hell to be a substantial expansion of the band’s sound. Particular songs such as “Darkness” sound like something you’d be listening to if you found yourself at a poorly lit bar holding a glass of scotch in your right hand and a lit cigar in the other, occasionally polluting the atmosphere with smoke while a well-fashioned band plays on a radiant blue stage. And that’s one of the great things about this EP - its blatantly obvious influences give it a distinct image, allowing listeners to relate to it and appreciate it for all its sophistication and maturity.
Other songs like “Trazodone” would have fit perfectly in
Bad Luck with its gentle piano and acoustic guitar introduction. The song's gang shouts, horns, and electric guitar feel comfortably familiar and at times similar to “Anna Lucia” or “Botanics”. “Sad Stanley”, on the other hand, is in a league of its own and may just go down as the band’s finest moment. It is of paramount significance that anyone who even remotely likes Trophy Scars listen to it. The proceeding half’s brilliance is expounded by the preceding minutes to create something unfathomably gorgeous. A bluesy-tinged guitar is played along with a backing piano before the song evolves in favor of something more profoundly deep. Strings subtly develop in the background as the tension builds to the point where they swell and advance to the foreground, nearing its end with the vocal croons of “I remember loving her a long, long time ago / I wonder if we'll find each other in the bowels of hell / and she'll save me from hell.” At the end, the blissful chaos subdues, and the strings flourish and segue into sinister laughs before reaching the melancholic closer “Time in Heaven, Forever in Hell”.
The one unifying criticism I’ve read from a lot of people is that the vocals are ‘grating’. Granted, they’re an acquired taste; the vocal styling here is no different than that of
Bad Luck. The occasional rough and raspy vocal lines only act to make it feel less manufactured, if anything. But Trophy Scars don’t care, this isn’t their career - a money making scheme - this is art. Expression in its purest form. Trophy Scars are writing for themselves, completely devoid of concern as to how their fans will perceive it, which inherently gives
Darkness, Oh Hell a definitive soul. Trophy Scars simply never fail to astonish me. It’s in listening to
Darkness, Oh Hell that we find a fully matured band who are well known for constantly reinventing the wheel; here they’ve settled in to a sound that works very well for them. What’s possibly best about all of this is that the production value is astonishingly good for such an unadulterated group. Now, how often can we say that an album with such gorgeous production can emote this well?
When the ground split open wide and swallowed us all whole,
the earth was turned to smelling salt to wake the beast below.
I saw my body disappear, I felt my soul turn cold.
But I remember loving her a long, long time ago.
