Marche ou crève

For a couple of really intriguing reasons, this album looks good on paper. There's the fact that Marche ou Crève features three guitarists - all regular band members, not guests - and no bassist. I like good bass, but skipping it in favour of additional guitar flash seems like a cool experiment for an '80s heavy metal band to try. Secondly, Trust has the distinction of employing none other than longtime Iron Maiden drum king Nicko McBrain at this point in their career.

Unfortunately, the mix of potentially cool stuff doesn't really come together here. The three guitarists hardly ever combine in interesting harmonic fashion. "Certitude... Solitude" and "Les Templiers" see the almost-catchy verse riffs played under the decently intricate lead solo; but other than that, there's very little that couldn't have been accomplished with just one guitar. That includes what is admittedly an ass-kicking solo in "Le Sauvage". At any given time, it feels like two of guitar players are just standing around butt-useless. Neither the melody nor rhythm riffs make much use of the many options three guitars presented; and most importantly, there's just hardly any memorable tunes you can catch on to. You're probably used to criticizing thirty year old hard rock/heavy metal like this for being too poppy and accessible. Well, Trust faces the opposite problem here. This album is just rarely, if ever at all, catchy.

McBrain doesn't show too much that hints at his future prowess that's served Iron Maiden so well over the decades either. He contributes to the shifting mood of the title song with gradually accelerating tempos. And "La Junte" has an interesting pace along with proficient rolls to set up the two guitar solos. As for the rest, I can only assume Iron Maiden were impressed by Nicko's work on a different Trust album, because Marche ou Crève is mostly pretty bland stuff.

What really lets me down on this album is the vocal performance. There are strong lyrical themes here. "La Grande Illusion" deals with electoral distrust in very poignant terms: "You who speak of new liberties, proud of the money your father left you...You want me to vote to reassure you, to keep me safe?" (In French it even rhymes!) And "La Junte" rips into the West's support of repressive military in the name of saving the world from communism, with lines including: "In the hands of old SS exiles, past and future inside walls of blood, speaking of lifestyle, democracy and Western culture are authoritarian dictators." Could have been powerful, provocative songs.

The sad thing is, Trust has a lot to say but forget to present it in memorable music. Vocal lines are just too long and convoluted to ever be called hooks, except in the lazy choruses which are just the title repeated a few times. The words also come out in a gruff, a melodic shout which is very off-putting. It's not that cool, intentionally grating snarl of thrash metal. It's just a guy who thinks he's singing with oomph, when he's really simply loud for the sake of loud.

Marche ou Crève had a lot of things going for it in theory. But somehow - almost inconceivably - smart lyrics, a well-respected drummer, and multiple guitarists combine to make a completely forgettable album. Having a poor vocal performance doesn't help, but you'd think it could be overcome with strong instrumentals. Not this time.