By Triggerfinger’s new album “By Absence of the Sun” starts in a cacophony of distorted guitars crashing down in powerful chords before settling in on a Zeppelin-esque groove layered with the processed vocals of guitarist/vocalist Ruben Block. It’s pretty easy by that point to peg this Belgian trio down as another example of a modern rock group copying the cream of the classic rock bands, but one does not have to wait long to be proven wrong.
The second song “Perfect Match” is probably closer to 90’s rock although it shares none of grunge’s “woe is me” attitude. I listened to the album a few times trying to identify their influences, but it seemed that every time I though I had them nailed down, the next song would veer in a different direction. This is a band that’s equally influenced by Led Zeppelin and, let’s say, Queens of the Stone Age, and everything rock that lies in between those two. And as a listener, you probably react to the half that’s closer to your heart.
The rest of the album (their 4th) is full of foot-tapping and head-banging riffs, with nice melodies to sweeten everything. The album peters out slightly at then end with the last three songs being slower, grinding tracks that lack the energy of the first half of the album, but it doesn’t take anything away from the rest, especially that really strong first half. “By Absence of the Sun” is a real hodgepodge of influences but so well blended into a cohesive sound that it’s hard to fault them for it. It’s a solid rock record that should please a wide range of fans. Hey, who said rock was dead?
Check them out at www.triggerfinger.net or on their Canadian tour (with Big Sugar) this fall.
He's also a regular contributor at the excellent news site Montreal Rampage
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