Review Summary: Trapt is one of the blandest and least talented bands currently making music, and "Someone in Control" is evidence of that.
This weekend, Trapt and Shinedown will be playing a St. Pat's concert in Rolla that has been nearly sold out, with some tickets being sold for higher than the official price. Many people see this as a good move, since two big, popular bands are coming to Rolla. As such, I'll be reviewing both bands' latest albums to give my opinion of just how good of a thing it is that they're coming to Rolla.
Trapt – Someone In Control
One of Trapt's genre descriptions is “post-grunge.” Grunge is bad enough, but POST-grunge? Is this grunge that has been allowed to stagnate, become even more formulaic, and allow “musicians” to rest on their laurels with their simplified garbage? If so, Trapt is the epitome of the genre.
Someone In Control was released in mid-2005. Let's get this out of the way before we get too far: 3 Doors Down made this CD 5 years prior to this release.
In fact, the more I listen to this album, the more I keep finding parallels to modern rock bands like 3 Doors Down, Hoobastank, and every other cookie-cutter mainstream rock band out there. It's like Trapt took a template and filled it in without any thought of creating an emotional impact. Honestly, if lines like "too out of touch to touch you," "use me to use you," and "you've gone as far as I'll go" create an emotional response in you, then I'd suggest that you go back to listening to Linkin Park; at least LP has some diversity in their music.
I cannot reiterate this enough: everything about Trapt sounds like it comes directly from a blueprint, whether it's the vocals, lyrics, or music itself. It feels like I was listening to these guys on the popular rock radio station in middle school when I was discovering rock music.
There are some good things about this album. Some of the songs are catchy. Chris Brown sounds like he's not whining more often. This album is better than Trapt's first album (which says a lot about that one).
However, that's as far as the good things go, and the bad far outweigh any good that Trapt can dredge up. For one, I can't tell which song is which. They're all basically the same formulaic verse-chorus headbangers. The lyrics are incredibly juvenile and have “vague lowest common denominator syndrome,” where they're constructed to appeal to as many people as possible at the expensive of an actual emotional impact.
Here's my advice: stay away from this band. If you enjoy diarrhea coming out of your ears, you may enjoy Trapt; if you want to hurt yourself that badly, however, a much cheaper alternative would be to buy razor blades and stick them into your eyes.
Rating: 3/10
Check Out: “Disconnected,” “Bleed Like Me”
