Album Review
Trash Talk – No Peace
I always felt like I’d missed the boat when it came to Trash Talk, up until recently I never really appreciated what they did – until I saw the band live. It all became clear after that.
Needless to say, the Sacramento hardcore-punk band are a pure embodiment of modern day aggressive punk music, so you can understand why certain heads were turned in speculation when Trash Talk signed to Tyler, The Creator’s record label Odd Future in 2012.
Whilst this was simply another example of the band exercising their right to not give a single fuck about what people think in the slightest, it also supported the notion that although Hip-Hop and Punk may seem worlds apart in terms of sound, there is usually a common ground with ideology.
No Peace is the second full length release on the label for the band after their 3rd album “119,” which showed a slightly slower, but overall “meaner” side to the band, experimenting loosely with different musical ideas and structures, something that the band seem to have capitalised more on with this record.
The record as a whole seems a much darker effort from the band, even as we’re thrown off straight from the offset with “Amnesiatic,” an instrumental hip-hop track (composed by the legendary Alchemist), the tone like a brooding beast. “Jigsaw” awakens said beast and you’re pulled headfirst into the fury. The LP is probably the bands longest to date, but even at 32 minutes long, Trash Talk make it seem like an adrenaline filled bar fight lasting all of 30 seconds.
Songs like “Nine Lives” & “The Great Escape” keep the longer tracks like “Cloudkicker” & “Locked in Skin” by the scruff of their neck like snarling dogs, keeping you from feeling even close to bored. Similar to “119,” this album shows that Trash Talk are far from a one trick pony, venturing away from their traditional sound into areas that other less daring hardcore-punk bands wouldn’t bother tampering with.
The chuggy, off beat intro of “Prometheus” sounds closer to Slipknot than a 4 piece punk band whereas “SOS” is more reminiscent of bands like The Bronx, Fucked Up etc.
No Peace has cemented the fact that no matter how hard you try, it’s pretty damn hard to try and shoebox a band like Trash Talk, mainly because they are constantly raising a middle finger to every false depiction of their sound and “what they should or shouldn’t do.”
They are dangerous to the norm, which is something sorely missing in punk music today, especially hardcore punk.
– Jack Longman
Venue: No Peace
Support Band: Odd Future Records