No Trigger
The World Is Not A Stage (2003)
Brian Shultz
Long ago I recall hearing a small bit on a punknews.org review's comments section about a certain five-piece band from Massachusetts that compared them to Strike Anywhere. I checked out their mp3.com page, liked the song, but never bothered to follow up on it as time went on; you know how it is. Several days ago my friend Josh inquired if I wouldn't mind reviewing a demo he had lying around from a band called No Trigger. My memory clicked and I gladly obliged.
Put out just before last summer, this four-song demo EP from the New England quintet is screaming with potential. With the raw fury and melody of Strike Anywhere's Change is a Sound era, the smartest, most solemn moments of Pennywise's career, and the occasional Kid Dynamite-esque pop-oriented flavor (think "Never Met the Gooch"), No Trigger could easily take the world with their socially-conscious minds and cathartic hooks.
"Map and Compass" starts with a quiet feedback, quick drum roll, and then Tom Rheault's yell of "one planet, one chance and look what happened, the prophecies of doom are beginning to turn true." The group behind him occasionally shouts in unison, an effort only paralleled by the constant, impervious pleas to simply be aware of the ongoing world. Rising chord progressions and bass/drum combinations dominate "Domesticated," and ironically tells you to "stand up and listen to the sound." The subject matter of "Call it a Day" addresses a common issue - the nine-to-five grind - but at one point smoothly uses a rail train metaphor to present the point, only to state later "for mere pennies on the dollar, trading lives for pocket change, sit back and fill out the punch card, tell your kids to do the same" before an abrupt fade.
Only recorded Memorial Day weekend, we should expect a significant step-up in sound and style soon enough, but the aggression and execution put forth on this obscure demo shows that whatever wait it'll be will be a necessary one.