Artist  | Trouble
Title   | Trouble

Genre   | Heavy Metal                          Format  | Album
Source  | CD                                   Time    | 42:12

Label   | Hammerhead Records                   Store   | 2020
Catalog | HHR 2020-29                          Rip     | 2022

Bitrate | 978 kbps                             Size    | 309.41 MB
Freq    | 44.1 kHz                             Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1

01. At The End Of My Daze                                       3:12
02. The Wolf                                                    4:33
03. Psychotic Reaction                                          3:14
04. A Sinner's Fame                                             4:17
05. The Misery Shows (Act II)                                   7:20
06. R.I.P.                                                      4:08
07. Black Shapes Of Doom                                        3:46
08. Heaven On My Mind                                           4:08
09. E.N.D.                                                      2:23
10. All Is Forgiven                                             5:11

At a time when heavy metal was moving forward faster than ever thanks to
the advent and growing popularity of thrash metal, Chicago's Trouble
embodied a nostalgic throwback to the genre's old-school '70s values - and
specifically a preference for the deliberate, slow-creeping style of the
genre's founding fathers, Black Sabbath, which, in the able hands of
Trouble and California's similarly backward-gazing Saint Vitus, came to be
known as doom metal. Emerging in the early '80s, the group's first two
studio LPs, Psalm 9 (1984) and The Skull (1985), are considered seminal in
the genre.

Lineup changes and shifting musical landscapes went a long way in lessening
the band's output over the years, but they endured well into the next
century, issuing their eighth studio album, The Distortion Field, in 2013.
While the group never achieved any notable amount of commercial success,
their preservation efforts nevertheless rescued metal's original blueprint
from disuse and carved it in granite for subsequent exploration by each new
generation of doom bands that followed.

An absolute classic: the legendary album from 1990 and the pinnacle of
Trouble's impressive career. Heavy Metal was never better than this!
Finally remastered! Trouble’s debut album did great things for Metal and
remains one of the darkest, thrashiest Doom albums to date. A lot of things
can change in six years, especially when you’re talking Metal and the dates
are 1984 and 1990. The decade may have changed them, but not in a way that
suggests decay or a decline in the quality of their resolve or their skill
as musicians and performers.

On the contrary, Trouble’s 1990 self-titled release is arguably their most
mature, boasting a fleshed out sound with unparalleled songwriting, a great
production, and the time-crafted vocals of Eric Wagner which had improved
major in the years since their previous efforts. All of this culminates in
what is my mind the most complete thing Trouble ever created.

From the mid-paced chug of a killer opener in "At The End Of My Daze" to
the last notes of "All Is Forgiven", I can't see filler or anything
resembling a weak link. The riffs here are some of the best ever written,
by Trouble or anyone else; every song has a manically awesome main riff
that demands a display of headbanging. Riffs are undoubtedly the point of
focus here; they make the songs, and they're a timeless variety of great.
Also, the interplay between guitarists Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell is
some of the best lead work you will ever hear in Metal.

Trouble basically reinvented themselves with this release, and while I
think it was a fantastic rebirth, those who aren't so keen on the laid back
stoner vibe they chose to adopt may not see it as a rejuvenation, but a
step back (they did go from doom and gloom to collectively embracing their
inner acid dropping free love hippie, after all). But the Metal remained
fully intact!

And as I've said, I think this is Trouble at their best. This is
originality and innovation at its best, it is supreme quality. A leader of
bands paves the way and then steps aside to create something that will
serve as an example of how to improve upon an established formula: that is,
by doing it really damn well.