Album Review: Trail of Lies - Only The Strong
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
Syracuse hardcore act Trail of Lies were a band I discovered at the 2019 edition of Europe's premier hardcore festival Ieper Fest. Following the band's superb performance I was straight over to the merch stand to pick up the bands W.A.R record. 5 years later I'm getting the chance to give the follow up Only the Strong it's critique.
Chants of 315 are the first thing that greet you which then transcends into a fury of absolute mayhem as Only The Strong gets started. This 11 track, 22 minute affair is definitely strong in both name and nature. It's really easy to just brush Trail of Lies off as another metallic mosh happy hardcore band but what I found with Only The Strong is that even though the record is by no means groundbreaking it is executed so well who really cares. The songs have a really great energy behind them and frontman Tom Daminao is a big reason.
Now I was not as massive on his vocals on the band's W.A.R record but he has really developed the style to really bring a huge and powerful performance which does the album wonders. This combined with the band's work to mix and match between hard and heavy beatdown riffs and more groovy riffs thus ensuring the album has enough going on so it doesn't become a stale monotonous slab of rubbish is definitely a high point. The production on the songs is also rock solid. The end sound to me that reminds me a lot of Satisfaction is the Death of Desire by Hatebreed in the way some of the guitars and drums work together, it just has a more modern kick to it.
Trail of Lies have produced a solid well written and well executed slab of modern Hardcore. Even with it's modern sound it has not lost the the roots of the style.
