Tulsa's own TRB present us with some groundbreaking sounds in their self-titled album.

OK folks, have you been looking for an album that flows from start to finish? They don't make those anymore, right? It seems that the albums that come out anymore don't care about presenting you with a listening experience, but rather, a collection of radio songs in no particular order. This definitely isn't the case with TRB's new self titled album. Maybe there are some artists left after all.

Just to start off I would like to say that TRB's new album presents the listener with a combination of sound and style that you haven't likely ran into before. The combination of the TRB's excellent songwriting/performance and top notch mastering make this an album that you shouldn't deny yourself. Now on to the review:

Ring and Remind opens the CD with an intense assault on the senses. Using a haunting epic feel and simple yet powerful lyrics TRB effectively draws you in with anticipation of what's to come.

We then smoothly transition to Atlas which brings us on a journey of sound rolling in and out of harmonic guitar rock which manages to keep our focus.

She Knows slows things down a bit with beautiful ballad which poses the question "Doesn't she know, what she's doing to me?" the gentle melody and beautiful vocals really hold this song together.

Better Days picks up the pace with an up tempo crashing wall of sound that pushes you forward and gets you ready for the next level. With an almost Foo-Fighters like sound this song makes for a great radio single choice. In fact it's already in rotation on The Edge.

Tony then slows down the pace a bit with the ballad Ordinary Man which is guaranteed to have the audience flicking their lighters at any live performance.

The music begins to pick up pace again with No Regrets. Opening with fast paced violins and melting into classic TRB Les Paul harmony No Regrets carries along the album well.

Modern Myth presents us with a beautiful melodic lost love song whose gut-wrenching heart felt lyrics really bring you into the song's state of mind and lowers your defenses, making you feel vulnerable.

Ballad of the Escape Plan really brings out the sound of Tony's Les Paul with the low hum of background chords, fast fingered soloing and great riffs. BOTEP really grows on you after a couple of listens.

Claustrophobic presents us with a heavy hitting, hard edged rock and roll power which is probably as close to heavy metal as TRB has gotten.

The album then slowly brings you into a new sound with the last 2 tracks; The Lull is a dreamy slow paced anthem that which transitions into some excellent effects reminiscent in some ways of Smashing Pumpkins final albums Adore and Machina, only not so overdone as to be a problem as the aforementioned Machina.

Evensong takes more obvious advantage of that unique sound with the humming guitar whales and dreamlike spatterings of guitar inspired effects which lead to perfectly close out the album.

I for one would be more than happy to see a full album of these groundbreaking sounds from TRB.

TRB is:
Tony Romanello - Vocals / Guitar
Andy Callis - Guitar
Paul Cristiano - Bass
Josiah Borgos - Drums

Related links:
www.trbrocks.com