Review Summary: Trapt's self-titled effort contains quality tracks hidden in a sea of mediocrity
Album covers usually represent the music’s overall theme, tone, or style. With
Trapt’s 2002 self-titled effort, they used an uneventful photograph of a man mowing his lawn. The photo is supposed to represent not living your life to the fullest; Wasting your day doing boring tasks when you could be out there, making a name for yourself. There was (surprisingly) a lot of thought and heart behind the front cover, but the overall execution made it a very awkward and dumb cover. The artwork definitely represents the album as a whole: Good intentions, bad results.
“I can’t escape walking down these walls / Hard to find a place where there are no walls” cries vocalist Chris Taylor Brown with legitimate honesty, only to end up being a little corny. That’s the biggest flaw with this record, the lyrics. They try to reach a status of memorability, but they ultimately become bland and forgettable. It makes
Trapt a very frustrating listen, you see the effort, you feel the heart and passion, it’s just not executed very well. Many tracks are faceless and leave little impact on the listener. Luckily, however, Trapt leaves a few streaks of brilliance on the record.
The most obvious would be the smash hit single “Headstrong”, which is probably the reason why you even clicked on this review in the first place. The lyrics are still not very interesting, but the instrumentation is very catchy and solid. Aaron Montgomery’s drums are very tightly constructed and adds real backbone to the song. Another great standout would be “The Game”. Brown’s vocals absolutely soars in this track, and the instrumentation is very memorable, with the bass and drums being the lead focus. Shockingly, the best moment on the entire album would be the second half of “New Beginning”. While the first half is just another bland and pointless song, the second half does a complete 180, turning into a very atmospheric and bleak instrumental. It actually the bass is very dark and gives off a feel of dread. Drums are added to the mix as time goes on, complimenting the overall tone very well, making a very well done finish to an otherwise boring album.
So how well does
Trapt hold up? It’s definitely not excellent by any means, but there is honest integrity behind it. If anything, it’s a middle-of-the-road album, offering quality material within a sea of mediocrity.
