More Metal, Less Jazz
As noted in our review for Voodoo Moonshine Trepalium are a brilliantly eclectic outfit combining crushing Metal groove with swing and jazz. How does all of this translate on stage though - because surely if done correctly it has to potential to be truly brilliant? The last time the band were in the UK they were opening up for Gojira, and subsequently began to build a bit of a cult following, tonight in the Boston Music Rooms, whilst they were not playing to the numbers seen on that previous tour (at all - it was depressingly empty), there were a good handful of die-hards down the front. Unlike their recorded material though, Trepalium tonight were just a bit lacklustre. Performance wise they sounded tight, but the whole element of Jazz and Swing was thrown out of the window almost instantly.
Obviously it is probably not totally the fault of the band - the bigger the band the more money it costs, and it is hard enough to make money in the music business these days as it is, but you cannot help but stand there and watch Trepalium live and think that if they were able to combine the two elements of Metal and Jazz on stage rather than through a laptop they’d be on to an absolute winner. If you take a step back from that though, you see how talented the band are as a unit because despite the fact that we lose some of the Swing, they put on a hell of a Metal show. As already mentioned, the crowd wasn’t exactly huge, so for them to come out and smash through their set with the kind of intensity and passion in which they did says a lot about them. The new tracks off of Voodoo Moonshine sounded great, especially the set opener Moonshine Limbo. The brilliantly mental Sick Boogie Murder was understandably the crowd favourite tonight, despite them smashing through it quite early in the set.
Overall then, it wasn’t a bad live show, far from it, but knowing how good it could have been did taint the experience somewhat. Who knows, as the band’s profile increases and they get more shows under their belt maybe that potential could be realised.