Album Review

Trail – To The Rest Of The World

• 7th Mar 2010

From the producer who bought us Maroon 5 and Faith No More, comes Trail, an Indie Rock 5 piece from London.

Despite their British background, Trail’s debut album, ‘To the Rest of the World, (released 22nd February) may find they fail to appeal to their fellow countrymen. Although the entire album has distinct British influences (most noticeably Elbow, Glasvegas and Snow Patrol), it reeks of middle America and is more likely to strike a chord on that side of the pond than at home.

The opening track Prism (the first to be released) packs no punches, making it an interesting choice with which to lead their debut. Lyrically, it offers no originality, often drawing comparisons to Elbow and unfortunately failing to make an impact elsewhere. Packing a few punches is their second single, City, though equally lacking in originality. This blandness is a theme which reoccurs throughout the album.

Whilst each track is in no way musically offensive, TTROTW is lacking in character and will fail to excite even the most avid Alt Rocker. Some spark can be found in the verses of Flare, but by the chorus it could be any mediocre Indie Rock band from the past 10 years.

It is the shortage of character that I believe to be TTROTW’s biggest problem. Forever Young for example, is a pleasant song to wile away an evening but it’s no conversation stopper.

Furthermore, Forever Young’s sentiment is, ironically…old.

The best tracks of the album come in the forms of Backbone and Fumes which is where most of the album’s character can be found. Backbone offers folky undertones and sentimental lyrics to break the generic pace of the first four tracks, and Fumes’ somewhat delivers following it’s promising opening. These are fleeting moments however, and we’re back to the impersonal lyrics and bland tones by Worry Free, which I found to be, dare I say it, Westlife-esque.

The lowest point of the album can be found in the opening bar of All Down, which is too close to Snow Patrol for comfort. But don’t expect the notes that follow to be infused with the feeling and sentiment of a Snow Patrol track, in Trail tradition All Down offers nothing more than simple lyrics and rowdy guitar.

The album as a whole is somewhat redundant, falling flat at most tracks. Despite Matt Wallace producing the album, I hear very little of Maroon 5 or Faith No More in TTROTW. The only comparison I can draw is the simplicity of the lyrics; as basic as a Maroon 5 song, but minus the fun.

Perhaps Trail will have more luck should they reach the festival scene. With their crowd-pleasing riffs and attempts at anthemic tunes, come December they may have scraped on to CD 2 of ‘NME The Album 2010.’