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Trust > Répression > Reviews
Trust - Répression

Antisocial for Life! - 80%

severzhavnost, December 7th, 2014
Written based on this version: 1980, 12" vinyl, CBS (Netherlands)

This is the type of music Trust should have always stuck with. It's catchy, fist-pumping (French) NWOBHM firmly rooted in '70s hard rock. The lyrics express that irreverent-and-proud-of-it social commentary that would later be embittered into the bluntness of thrash. Repression was the first album of which Trust also released an English version back in 1980 and it was a great choice to expose the band to the fast-expanding, worldwide anglophone heavy metal audience. If you like Tokyo Blade and Grim Reaper, but wished they sang about more relevant stuff, Trust is the band for you.

Guitarist Nono plays hard-rockin', foot-stompin' riffs that, while they won't dazzle from a technical point of view, are also impossible to resist. His solos, likewise, come from the Motorhead school of thought: far from self-indulgent or excessive, always weaving through the natural progression of the song. I also really enjoy his penchant for dropping in some jangly clean guitar to introduce the vocal choruses, such as in "Antisocial" and "Au Nom de la Race". It nicely enhances the melodies, and helps situate the band in that old-fashioned NWOBHM style. Trust turn back the clock even further to the '70s with a slick saxophone solo in "Fatalite".

The solid early '80s guitar work is complemented by Jeanott's drumming, which is more challenging than you'd expect for the time period. Some really cool hi-hats help keep the guitar solo of "Instinct de Mort" tied to the overall melody. A fantastic roll lines up the solo in "Passe" too. That song also features the best of the album's crash cymbals adding some concussive force behind the chorus.

Vocally, Bernie has always written intelligent lyrics. This time he goes after the extra-judicial execution of "French Robin Hood" Jacques Mesrine in "Le Mitard"; and oddball religious sects in the closing song, among other targets. He's never been the most melodically gifted singer, but the catchy simplicity of this early 80s album help keep his vocal lines smoother than on later works.

Repression is an energetic confrontation of the impersonal of today's corporate society. And it does so with that uniquely early '80s upstart gusto that never forgets that it's music first of all. It's catchy and fun, but never sinks into pointless adolescent delinquency that afflicted hard rock in this time period. Whether in English or their native French, I recommend giving this a spin.