Troll is yet another recent band to
form in the metal hotbed that is Portland, Oregon. The band has been
around for some time, but only released their debut album in 2016.
After that album, some lineup unrest made the band's future murky.
But the band was able to patch things up with their vocalist Rainbo,
which is definitely a good thing for the band for reasons I will lay
out.
This is Troll's second full-length, and
my first experience with the band. Troll is a doom metal band with
some stoner influences. The music is slow and mellow, for the most
part. Troll has much more in common with groups like Pallbearer than
My Dying Bride or Cathedral. Their sound is melancholic and melodic,
but with something of an epic feel and lyrics dealing with fantasy
themes. The music is decent, but it never really grabs the
listener's attention. The musicianship is impressive, but
ultimately, musically, there is nothing much here that has not been
heard before.
But there is one element of this album
that truly causes it to stand out above so many of the other doom
metal bands out there. That is the vocals. Rainbo's voice is, quite
simply, incredible. Sounding like some sort of mix between Chris
Cornell and Eddie Vedder, Rainbo croons along with the music and has
an amazing range. There are times when his delivery is actually
spine-tingling. His vocals take the album from being a good, but
fairly standard album, to a memorable one.
If not for Rainbo's vocals, this album
would probably be fairly forgettable. But the album stands out due
to the incredible vocal performance. Rainbo is a vocalist to watch
in the future. As for the rest of the band, I guess we will see.
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