Friday 2 July 2010

Trouble - Live In Los Angeles (2009)


Holding back the tears of silt, I find myself in a stick y situation. The mighty...and I mean, MIGHTY, Trouble have departed with Eric Wagner and bizarrely drafted in one of my favourite rock 'n' roll singers ever, ex-Warrior Soul front man Kory Clarke. It's a strange turn of events. Surely after King Eric left it would have been better off to have dissolved Trouble and continued under another name ? Not only that, but to continue and then release a live album just seemed weird, but then again, that's the continuing enigma known as Trouble. probably one of metal's greatest ever bands, this elusive lot have been belching out their rock 'n' roll doom for decades, albeit one album every decade or so. i saw them live just before Wagner departed and it was one of the greatest gigs of my life, so to hear Kory Clarke at the helm is quite odd. Now, credit where credit is due...Kory has a fine, wheezy set of pipes with enough grime to actually slot into this type of sound. After all, Trouble is somewhere between a black Zeppelin and a groovy Sabbath, and Clarke has had the trials and tribulations to respond to the monolithic tracks put before him. Even so, this is a bit like Zeppelin without Plant, because however much you are still hammered by 'R.I.P.' or 'The Sleeper' musically, vocally it just ain't Eric. Kory does his best to slink over the mammoth riffs and bomb drop drum beats, but be warned, this album is really only for those of a curiosity. I'm glad that 'Psychotic Reaction' isn't here, or 'Memory's Garden', and I don't feel sick after listening to it, because Kory is one helluva cool guy, but for me, Trouble is a magic force, bestowed upon the planet to bridge the gap between Zepp and Sabbath.


Leave the monster be and let it slither back to its cavern to be remembered forever as a wondrous myth. Good try Kory, but stick to Warrior Soul, who just happen to be one of rock 'n' roll's coolest ever bands too.

6/10

No comments: