Trap Them: Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic, 3/15/11)
Trap Them: “The Facts”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Trap_Them_The_Facts.mp3|titles=Trap Them: “The Facts”]Riotous hardcore quintet Trap Them became a full-time endeavor half a decade ago and has been perfecting its sound ever since. For Darker Handcraft, the band continues expanding its grindcore style to present more assailing D-beat rhythms and impossibly heavy sounds. The production, again courtesy of Kurt Ballou, draws understandable parallels to the producer’s main gig in Converge.
But Trap Them’s low tunings, dark chord progressions, and noodling high-string riffs are more responsible for the comparison, even if Trap Them is less about diversity and more about straight-forward fury. Vocalist Ryan McKenney has a crisper but equally brutal delivery, often recalling former Refused front man Dennis Lyxzén. In all, Darker Handcraft is top-notch modern hardcore, meshing punk and metal with equal aplomb.