Awakening

I was really quite surprised to hear Trauma as they appeared on As the World Dies, which back in 2018 reimagined the old-school San Francisco group as downbeat purveyors of gloomy alt rock in addition to Accept-influenced heavy metal. It was almost like they went through a semi-grunge crossover 25 years too late. In the meantime, a real tragedy has occurred, longtime vocalist Donny Hillier passing away and leaving Trauma not only with no more original members but also with only Kris Gustofson remaining from their ‘80s origins. Brian Allen is the new recruit to fill Hillier’s shoes, and with the ex-Vicious Rumors man comes a similar, more definable, style to his old band, somewhere between modern power thrash and that Accept sound straddling hard rock and heavy metal, perhaps reminiscent of Armored Saint too. Awakening may pass a few fans by because of Trauma’s turbulent history and long stretch of absence, but it’s solid stuff if you’re paying attention.

My eyes went immediately to the second track on this release, partly due to the name ‘Ted Talks’ (I watch a lot of that because I have to teach an ESL public speaking class), partly due to its 23 second length. Don’t assume that Trauma drop a grindcore song on us, nor is it a motivational speech, the Ted in question being Ted Bundy in what I assume is a direct quote or even recording of the serial killer. My point here is that artists should either include that kind of thing in its parent track (‘Death of the Angel’) or use it as the album introduction, instead of dangling it as a carrot for idiots like me to get snared by... Well played, guys. Other than that, the quintet do a good job of keeping everything neat and regular, clocking up 5 minutes just twice in a pretty compact 10 song listen. The songs all have enough meat to them, riffing harder on ‘Burn’ and ‘Walk Away’, hitting the choruses strongly in ‘Meat’ and ‘Voodoo’, then sensibly placing ‘Falling Down’ in the middle of the album where its clean verses and elongated structure make for a nice change from otherwise high intensity.

This time around, Awakening retains a small edge of what made As the World Ends stand out, feeling broader than any particular thrash or heavy metal scene you could name, and avoiding current trends in particular. I fancy that those who followed Metal Church through Mike Howe’s tenure will appreciate this more than most, firstly from the manner that vocals take centre stage for much of the listen and also for the clear blend of modern metal crunch and classic songwriting notions. That seems very clear from ‘Falling Down’, which contains elements of the conventional ballad alongside surges into powerful riffing and gruff semi-growls from Allen. Hearing the band get really charged up for ‘Death of the Angel’ gives the opposite impression: that Trauma can keep up with the times and lack nothing in ferocity when required. As with the former couple of albums, I find it tough to pick out real standout songs, although this time I think we’re closer to a whole bunch of winners than anything middling or questionable. Could be that this signals something of a re-awakening for Trauma.