Original article here: http://abortmag.com/2018/02/ep-self-titled-trigram/
Pronounced Tri-Gram, not Trig-Ram as this reviewer initially thought (for some reason) this hard rock ensemble based out of Los Angeles will send you down a Wikipedia (Trigram) rabbit (Bagua) hole (History of Taoism) if you aren’t careful (South Korea). All I wanted was to know how to properly pronounce their name.
Back on track three and a half hours later, having listened to the EP on repeat what must be about eighty-four times now while devouring wiki-pages I feel like I know these guys. Primarily, Trigram is a duo comprised of Rodney Warner, who works triple time supplying Vocals, Guitar, and Bass, while Brian Mansell fills in the sound on Lead Guitar and Drums.
The sound is decidedly influenced, and heavily, by the likes of Maynard James Keenan and any one of his many creative outlets, with tracks like “Assimilate” and “Entropy” playing like modern versions of many a 1990s hard-rock/grunge classic. The lyrical content also straight out of the nineties where counter-culture was starting to take hold and anti-conformity reigned supreme, even though everyone was conforming to by wearing either a NIN or Nirvana t-shirt… depending on whichever smelled worse at the time.
The standout track of the offering has to be “Bleed Out”, which couples a tight drumline (courtesy of Carlos Hernandez on the skins), deep guitar licks, and a solid performance vocally by Warner. Though This four track blast of heavy rock n roll is available to purchase and stream at the links below now, it took an entire year for the EP to be completed. While the finished product is both polished and tight, we can only hope that come time for Trigram’s first full album, the lessons learned producing these tracks help speed things along and during that release, we aren’t in the midst of another US election or suffering through a nuclear winter.
Track List:
1. Assimilate
2. Entropy
3. Bleed Out
4. Tick Down
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By Scott Alexander
