T.S.O.L. - The Trigger Complex

​Written by GE 138.

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Artwork stolen from the Internet

This new album by T.S.O.L. sucks. There, I said it. So what? "Opinions on music being subjective...", yada yada yada but still, this album is soooo bad it hurts. Damn. What a shame. It's too poppy, it's too wimpy. It's got people singing 'la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la' background vocals all happy sounding and shit, like some ghey ass 60's hippy music does! Blah! I hate when bands chat up their upcoming release by hinting that it's going to sound like their earlier, classic material, because then I get all hyped up on wanting to hear it, and when I do, I'm usually hugely disappointed, like I am with this latest release from T.S.O.L., one of my favorite bands ever. I mean, I wasn't looking for Dance With Me, part 2, or even a follow up to Beneath The Shadows, but I was looking for something good, something rocking, and didn't find it in this 13 song release. Look, I'm a fan of later era T.S.O.L. albums - I thought Divided We Stand was hugely underrated, and Disappear is filled with all sorts of classic ragers that get the pits started every time the band plays them at a gig, but this album is wimpy, embarrassing, it's polished melodic, and lacking any ear candy whatsoever, there's just nothing here man, nothing. The old original keyboard player is back in the band, and his dynamic is all over the place on these tunes, for better or for worse. His riffs replaced a lot of Ron's stuff, relegating him to accents and background fills, which is sad. Was that some auto tune shit I just heard? Oh fuck this album. I've listened to it a few times now, and just can't find anything worth noting about on this album. Maybe Going Steady would sound good live, but I dunno, the majority of the stuff on here is just soft, watered down, old guy T.S.O.L. singing about Love and what went wrong with their lives versus singing about necrophilia and abolishing governments and pseudo spy novels set to music. Maybe it's me, I dunno, buy again, you ask me, I say this album sucks. It's very The Damned Phantasmagoria era sounding, if you know what I mean. 1 (almost) song out of 13 does not make a record good. I was expecting more, and I got duped. Phooey.

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Put out by Release Records on beautiful splattered colored vinyl, CD, and cassette tape, if you can believe that, all of it available from the labels website by clicking here. It's also available from the band at every gig they play to make their mortgage payments or as an excuse to get out of the old folks home they all reside in, sedated and safe and happy. Available on iTunes (click here) as well as all sorts of places all over the Interwebz where Punk Music is sold like the cheap commodity that it is nowadays. 'Like" the band on Facebook by clicking here. T.S.O.L. I heart you. <3

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