TRALLERY — Catalepsy (review)

Album · 2013 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2014-06-14
UMUR

"Catalepsy" is the debut full-length studio album by Spanish, Mallorca based thrash metal act Trallery. The album was released through Xtreem Music in June 2013. Trallery were formed in 2010 and consist of Sebas Barcelo (Drums), Biel Gayà (Guitars) and Humberto Pol (Vocals, Bass).

The music on "Catalepsy" is thrash metal with quite a few traditional heavy metal elements and even a few nods toward power metal. The latter is especially true for the track "In the Wings of the Night". Trallery incorporate a lot of melody in their music and that goes for both the intrumental and the vocal parts. The vocals are predominantly raw and snarling though, but occasionally more melodic. Humberto Pol is actually a rather impressive vocalist. His vocal style is pretty diverse and adds a lot to the band´s music. As mentioned he can sing raw, but also does a James Hetfield (Metallica) impersonation, that works well. He also extensively use a higher pitched rusty voice, that sometimes reminds me of Rob Halford (Judas Priest).

Both Metallica and to some extent Judas Priest are also valid references when describing the instrumental part of the music, but I´d like to add Testament to that equation. Trallery do not try to hide their influences, but they still come up with a relatively "original" sound. The songwriting is decent and sometimes reaches the excellence mark, but there is room for improvement in that department. The blend of thrash, traditional heavy metal and power metal is sometimes a bit confusing, and it doesn´t always work wonders for the band. The two instrumental tracks are also a bit redundant to my ears, so all in all "Catalepsy" is a quality release but also a bit of a mixed bag if you prefer a stylistically cohesive release.

On the plus side Trallery are really well playing and "Catalepsy" features a professional, clear and powerful sound production, which brings out the right aggressive edge in the music. Overall "Catalepsy" is an intriguing debut album by Trallery that shows great promise, but doesn´t fully deliver that promise yet. With a more focused and mature songwriting approach, these guys could deliver something spectacular in the future though and I´ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future releases by them. A 3.5 (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
Permalink
Report #296676

Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Interesting band for sure, but I think they need a bit more writing experience, and probably live experience, before they´ll write a more consistently great album. That´s how I hear it.

Vic wrote:

more than 2 years ago

My first impression of Catalepsy was very similar to yours. I was impressed enough to give them some repeated listens, especially because of the last song on the album, Path of Life, which I thought was excellent. Thing is, the confusing (or not-focused asI initially described it) songwriting really sounded way better with a few repeats, to the point that I consider this album one of the best in the New Wave of Thrash movement. Which is already spanning more than adecade, so that is saying much, both for the quality of this album (jn a flattering sense) and for the overall quality of the NWOTM (not-so flattering).

I would recommend revisiting the album a few times, it is well worth it. I also consider the two instrumentals very good and excellent preludes to the songs that follow (both of which are among the album's finest).

I have high hopes for this band.