Trigram recently dropped a self-titled EP, with four tracks. Trigram is the musical project of Rodney Warner, vocalist, guitarist and composer, who, waking from a nightmare, realized the transience of life.
According to Warner, "I was left with feelings of how life isn't a permanent thing. I'm going to die one day. My brain was just left in this weird space. I started asking, 'Am I doing the right things in my life? If this will all end now, would I be happy?' There was something missing. I'd been playing music my whole life, but I never finished anything to be proud of. I never fully committed to a piece of art. It was finally time do a record."
And that’s what he did, recording four songs over the course of a year. Warner provided vocals, rhythm guitar and bass, while his friend Brian Mansell (Leon Russell, Concrete Blonde) produced the EP and played drums and lead guitar on all the tracks, except for “Bleed Out,” which features Carlos Hernandez on drums.
“Assimilate” opens with guzzling disjointed guitars and flows into a rumbling, grinding industrial rock melody. A hefty bassline propels the rhythm, along with muscular polyrhythmic drums. Warner’s vocals infuse weighty tones, giving the tune a dark feel as well as an inhibiting projection. Its potency is overwhelming.
“Entropy” begins with thundering guitar chords riding an industrial prog rock melody. Thick guitars drive the melody, while an earthquake-like rhythm pounds and shakes with commanding energy of almost head-banging levels, but not quite because the sonic flow is too horizontal. Shrill, sparkling guitar licks give the music magnitude and depth.
“Bleed Out” is straight ahead reckless dynamism and dark hormonal pulsations. The industrial rock melody, powerfully proximate, packs a sonic punch of Jovian strength. The vocals attain a type of dreamy veneer, bursting with colors and percolating flavors as the layers of harmony impinge upon one another. I like this song a lot.
“Tick Down” delivers a more measured industrial rock melody, with hints of prog rock. The bassline pulses relentlessly, giving the tune cap-a-pie dominance. Monster guitar riffs infuse the music with pulverizing energy. The bridge leading into the guitar solo grumbles and rolls majestically and, when the guitar takes off, the air sizzles and sputters like rain striking molten magma.
Trigram is heady stuff! The melodies boil with massive power, while the rhythms resemble graft-job muscles knotted like rocks. And Warner’s voice, beefy with gravitational tones, delivers the right amount of passion and energy necessary for industrial rock. If you’re into crushing, staggering rock, Trigram has just what you’re looking for.