There’s no question that the nu-metal genre and sound is dying a slow and painful death.But it hasn’t disappeared entirely off the radar just yet, and every now and then a band appears, proudly proclaiming they’re providing the music world with something completely different from the masses of other acts peddling a hybrid version of the well-worn sound, only to disappoint by delivery exactly what they claim not to.And its here that L.A. (California) based Trigger Point enters into the picture.

Although founded as far back as 2001, it wasn’t until three years later that the four piece finally got the line-up in place (Consisting of vocalist Taylor Wallace, guitarist Mike Bashur, bassist Paul Kelly (Who is the groups newest member) and drummer Dave Gentry) and were able to consolidate their sound with some live shows.

The band soon entered the studio with Logan Mader (Ex-Machine Head, Soulfly, Medication guitarist) serving as producer and mixer, with ‘A Silent Protest’ released independently at the tail end of 2004.

Since then, Trigger Point have signed to the relatively new Corporate Punishment Records, and almost a year since it’s initial release, ‘A Silent Protest’ is given an extended lease of life with it’s re-release.

Although Trigger Point’s sound immediately draws comparisons to the nu-metal scene, A Silent Protest manages to escape most of the criticisms associated with their choice of style by honing in on their many obvious strengths, with the album coming across as an interesting and unusually strong release.

Opening up with the atmospheric build up of the introduction piece ‘Please Stand By’, Trigger Point gets the album underway with the title track ‘A Silent Protest’. ‘A Silent Protest’ (Which is also the albums first promotional video clip, and is included as an enhanced extra on this re-release) is a fairly straightforward hard-hitting track that relies a lot on thick heavy guitars and plenty of variation with Gentry behind the kit. Of course, Wallace’s powerful voice is a strong feature, and it’s with the rare emotive quality (As well as the extended range that he projects) that makes them stand out from others within the same field.

Starting out with gentle Eastern sounding atmospherics, ‘My Time’ follows the similar line set down by the opener without really deviating from the path (Much like tracks such as ‘Cycle’ and ‘Stray’), but it’s in songs such as ‘Picking Up The Pieces’, ‘Seven’ and ‘The Color Of Real’ which manage to broaden Trigger Point’s sound from the overtly repetitive nu-metal formula of most with soaring melodic vocals and an overall heavy rock approach in musical style.

‘Away’, ‘Pain Is A Lesson’, ‘Nowhere To Be’ and the closer ‘The Last Laugh’ are scathing double kick driven tunes that place a greater emphasis on the bands intent to bludgeon the listeners senses.

As a debut, Trigger Point’s A Silent Protest is as strong as you would expect given the genre it’s associated with. It has it’s weak points of course, but the numbers favour more their strengths, which means that should they continue to progress and evolve at their current rate, there might well be a future in the years to come.

» triggerpointmusic.com