Review Summary: Taking influences from Rotten Sound, Entombed, Discharge and even Converge, Trap Them crafts an incredibly sound debut in Sleepwell Deconstructor.
Every once and a while, after sifting through the seemingly endless sea of mediocrity that heavy music is starting to become, you are taken by surprise when you discover a band like Trap Them. Bringing together members of Backstabbers Incorporated and December Wolves, this quartet from New Hampshire plays their own brand of crust-grind taking influences from Entombed, Discharge, Tragedy and even Converge. Mixing these influences together perfectly, Trap Them looks to rip your head off with Sleepwell Deconstructor.
Right from the opener "Day One: Insomniawesome," you know you're in for one hell of a ride. The listener is greeted by a one-minute opener of pure distortion-heavy grindcore, complete with tortured vocals, manic drumming, and buzzing guitars. The next track "Day Two: They Followed The Scent Of Jihad All The Way To Thieves In Paradise" is essentially two parts Converge, two parts Entombed with a dash of Rotten Sound thrown in for good measure. You've still got that fast, raging grind feel that the first track debuted but there are some great technical parts throughout the album that are introduced, here with some technical flares broken up by a great bridge. After this track, it's clear that Trap Them can mold their older and newer influences into one coherent mix of older grind and d-beat with a modern twist.
For the rest of the album, Trap Them delivers more scathing grind bombshells, most notably with the best track on the album "Day Five: Garlic Breakfast" where they are in their most technical form, but still pummel the listener with the speed they are capable of. Vocalist Ryan McKenney and company sound seriously brutal thanks to a great mastering job from Kurt Ballou which gives them the crunch they need to pull off this type of sound.
"Day Eight: Destructioneer Extaordinaire" offers a brief resting period that features passages of clean guitar, calmer vocals and lighter drumming intertwined with heavy parts that give the song a real epic feel. With this, Trap Them shows that they can stretch of the song length and make the most of it before they violently drop right back into the assault. "Day Eleven: Threatnurse" is another break that retains the heavier instrumentation, but fronted by some soft vocals. While not the greatest track on the album, it's interesting and doesn't take away from the immense feel of this album.
Basically, Sleepwell Deconstructor is twelve days spent on a blazing battlefield, filled as many explosions and casualties as possible. This bloodshed will not doubt leave your surroundings in ruin as it just piles so much destruction in 21 and a half minutes. Musically these guys are sound, showing off some creative songwriting but with nothing ever coming off as forced. Trap Them's influences will allow them to gain attention from all over, getting the nod from everyone from metalheads to even the crust punks. Not really anything negative to say, but I think these guys have the potential to do even more than this strong debut, which leaves me excited to hear what they have to offer in the future.
