The Trews – Hope & Ruin
"Hope & Ruin" is the forth album release by Canadian rockers The Trews. Based in Toronto, the band is made up of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist Jpohn-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek and drummer Sean Dalton. Having supported the likes of Robert Plant, The Rolling Stones, Guns 'N' Roses, Kiss and Nickelback, they have already notched up 2 gold albums and have been tagged 'The Canadian Guns 'N' Roses'. With such a glowing curriculum vitae, I couldn't wait to listen to the album.
The album opens with the quite impressive modern sounding light rock song 'Misery Loves Company', which is pleasant enough and has some memorable phrasing. 'One By One' follows which has an acoustic guitar – vocal face-off before the rest of the band jump in for the chorus; the result is a clever, catchy song. So far, so good; the first two songs work well and the band's abilities are obviously high, though one feels that they are missing a slight edge to their sound.
The distorted guitar and heavier sound of 'People of the Deer' is welcome, as too is the overall perception of more energy. The energy is short lived and 'Stay With Me' brings down the tempo (and the mood) to an almost indie-pop ballad. The big and emotional title track, 'Hope & Ruin' is next, which is by far the best song on the album. Here, the vocals fit effortlessly over the tight and competent backing and the song is a success on every level.
At this point, the album becomes disjointed and becomes more of a random collection of songs rather than a well thought out progression. The rock tracks 'The World I Know', the classic rock 'Love Is The Real Thing' and the big sounding 'I'll Find Someone Who Will' are complimented with the slightly softer rock of 'Burned' with it's wah wah guitar and tight arrangement. These are (sometimes slightly annoyingly) interrupted with quieter, acoustic songs such as the piano-laden ballad 'If You Wanna Start Again', the acoustic 'Dreaming Man' and the emotional, folky album closer 'You Gotta Let Me In'. It's not that any song on the album is bad, or even below par, it's just that they don't seem to fit together coherently. The band is good, the song on the album are good but I feel that there is too much variation in styles and they should decide on a sound and stick to it.