Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

It’s taken until this latest release from Trap Them for me to fully get into their material. The band’s blend of Converge and Cursed just didn’t float my boat. I mean, yeah, they delivered the goods with plenty of energy and aggression, but so did the bands they were emulating. At any rate, I don’t know what it is about Darker Handcraft that’s so enticing, but man I’m digging the hell out of it.

Released through Prosthetic records with Kurt Ballou (Converge, Doomriders) at the helm, Darker Handcraft has this sort of Entombed inspired sound that has been popping up a good deal lately — see the latest releases from the awesome Black Breath. There’s also a bit of a darker groove ala Doomriders flowing amongst the aggression. Given who’s producing the album, that’s not wholly unexpected. Perhaps it’s the deep-seated love for Entombed churning in my gut, but I’m all about Trap Them’s recent musical shift — it’s made there already in-your-face sound that much darker.

“Damage Prose” couldn’t be a better song for the band to open up Darker Handcraft. It erupts out of the speakers with down-tuned, chugging riffs, galloping drums and harshly delivers vocals that carry a boat load of anger and vehemence. The band is doing everything they can to blow out their amps and your speakers with this opening track. It more than sets the tone for the remaining 11 songs. “Slumcult & Gather” amps up the hardcore knobs a bit more as the crunchy guitars pummel away along with the maniacal drum work that highlights this song.

Man, there are so many great moments throughout this disc. The opening guitars to “Every Walk a Quarantine,” the monstrous groove of “Evictionaries” and full on old school Swedish death metal vibe to the guitars of “All by the Constatn Vulse” highlight the first half of the album. I absolutely love the build up to “The Facts” as it transitions through a Doomriders’ influence into the thick and densely packed fury that is “Saintpeelers.”

Trap Them have received a good bit of notice and acclaim for their past material, but it’s this latest effort, Darker Handcraft, where the band has truly found their sound. Dense, evil, dark and disruptive, the music found throughout these 12 songs is unrelenting and persistent in its goal of beating you senseless. I just can’t get enough of it.