Labels: Self-Released/Skeleton Eyes
Formats: Digital
Release Date: 14 May 2018
Tracklist:
1. Prologue
2. Battle For Troll Mountain
3. Forest Child
Damn I feel so tired. As if spending the day in front of a computer at work wasn't enough, I had to choose a hobby where I sit in front of one in the evening's too! It's as good job I have plenty of music to keep me going I guess. As I've mentioned before, I try to work to a rough schedule in terms of what I'm reviewing and it just happens that Troll Mother were next on my list (sorry for the delay guys). Troll Mother is a duo from West Sussex (UK) and they play a mix of sludge, black metal and thrash, as well as a strange fixation with trolls. "Forest Child" is the duo's first full release.
I’ve always considered trolls to be the subject matter of weird folk/power metal bands and album opener Prologue does nothing to change that; however, there’s something slightly tongue-in-cheek about the spoken word piece. Troll Mother launches into some heavy sounds midway through, which is a lot more promising. The narration does tell a story during Battle For Troll Mountain, as black metal fills the speakers. The instrumentation is loud and off-kilter at times and the vocals flit between deeps bellows and sludgy semi-clean singing. The cartoon-ish vocal interludes break up the momentum a bit but when Troll Mother hit their stride, they’re a lot of fun.
The title-track is probably the most complete song on “Forest Child”. It’s angular, off-kilter sludge is very welcome and the instrumentation/song-writing shows what Troll Mother is capable of. I’m never one to give bad reviews for the sake of it and I’m not about to give one here, I don’t begrudge Troll Mother at all, as the duo is brave enough to do something different and there is definitely a call for that right now. I just feel that they need to focus more on writing songs like the title-track and reducing the narration in order to make things a bit more cohesive. They’ll certainly find their sound as they mature as a band, while continuing to pick up new fans I’m sure.
Stream and download "Forest Child" below:-
Troll Mother - https://www.facebook.com/TrollMother/
Skeleton Eyes - https://www.facebook.com/Skeletonxeyes/
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