OK, Entombed’s Wolverine Blues hit store shelves and my gut on October 4, 1993. That’s like almost 18 years ago. To date, no single band has been able to capture the immediacy of rock ‘n’ roll and the grit of death metal quite like heyday–for certain individuals; not me, the Crawl EP is the pinnacle–Entombed. Not even Entombed have topped Entombed, and trust me they’ve tried desperately. Short of Nicke Andersson and Uffe Cederlund rejoining the Stockholm bruisers, Entombed post-DCLXVI: To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth ain’t really Entombed. Sacrilege, hyperbole, or just a moronic assessment of a band’s music after key members bolted? Maybe. That’s just me.
But I’ll argue Granite Staters–that’s a silly reference to folk hailing from New Hampshire–Trap Them may have finally closed the gaping hole Entombed created and unfortunately fell into after they ruled the death ‘n’ roll roost for two unbelievable albums. Yeah, Trap Them sport Starbucks barista hairdos, but their punk/hardcore ethos infuses a brutal sense of urgency into what could be but isn’t a snore-inducing barrage of buzzing guitars, throat-eviscerating vocals, and foot-shuffling, d-beated drums. Trap Them kind of rule. They’re not terribly dynamic, but when music for sheetrocking, traffic wrangling, or ass-kicking is required, well, there’s no better alternative. Sure, Sarah McLachlan is a close second, but her new album, Laws of Illusion, is a bit too pastoral.
Since I don’t feel the urge to sheetrock anything at the moment, but I do want to kick ass at wrangling traffic (daily commutes on Philadelphia’s Interstate 76 will do that to you.), I’m going to premiere–yes, with permission–Trap Them’s new tune “Slumcult and Gather”. What’s a slumcult? Dunno, but here’s the jam, motherfuckers.
“Slumcult and Gather”
** Trap Them’s Darker Handcraft is out March 8, 2011 on vinyl and March 15, 2011 on CD/digital on Prosthetic Records. Order it here. If you dare.