Artist: Triosphere
Title: The Road Less Travelled
Type: Album
Label: AFM

Metal fans are renowned for their dedication, and musicians no less so. The whole of Europe may have descended into chaos at the hands of Mount Eyjafjallajoekul; even the mighty Thor surrendered his sword and loincloth, admitting defeat much to his UK fans chagrin…but Triosphere vocalist Ida journeyed for 48 hours by bus to play their show supporting Kamelot in Oslo…a road very well travelled, I’d say! Sure, there are some cases where I don’t doubt that for bands to keep to their touring commitments would have just been an impossibility, but still it’s an effort that I’m sure some musicians would not bother to go to and it should be applauded.

It’s that formidable, dogged metal attitude that is very much at play here. Forget the biological implausibility having a “chick” singer; Triosphere Have Balls! ‘The Road Less Travelled’ is an album of hard and heavy, guitar-oriented metal packed with massive meaty riffs and powerful, belting vocal lines that would make Dio proud! The title track itself is a real catchy number with a fierce crunch to it and an anthemic chorus that would sound good in any stadium and would inevitably get the crowd singing along in unison. ‘The Death Of Jane Doe’ kicks in with a fast and enticing riff before giving way to a competent verse although the chorus is where this really comes to life with a soaring vocal melody that comes belting out over a backdrop of fierce drums.

When Triosphere really let rip on the choruses then they certainly make you listen; they are capable of making tight, powerful and well crafted music however some of the verses just aren’t that interesting and lose my interest just as quickly. Ida Haukland has a great voice for this kind of music; it’s loud and fierce yet melodic and tuneful – if only the music was a bit more consistent then I’d like to say the NWOBHM-nu-school have found themselves a new Doro Pesche! While there is potential for this band, I just can’t see this album having anything about it that will differentiate it from the rest of the mediocre trad-metal acts out there. There’s nothing groundbreaking about this record; though if you like your metal traditional sounding, straight forward and unchallenging then this should satisfy your appetite just enough.

http://www.myspace.com/triosphere