trioVD - Maze (Review)
Review by Jack Foley
CULT experimental outfit trioVD are described as champions of the Leeds improvisational scene. To me, they exist to irritate.
Their supposedly audacious return with new album Maze is reportedly the product of two years of introspection in a Leeds basement come DIY recording studio.
It’s billed as fun, complex, diverse and powerful.
To make the recording process different, the outfit begged, borrowed and ‘stole’ equipment from friends and recorded the album in their rehearsal room in Leeds, learning how to use the equipment as they went along.
They also set about broadening their sound to include extra orchestration, vocals, synths and percussion.
Sadly, the album is a disjointed, scrambled mess masquerading as something exciting and experimental. The jazz/metal compositions blast out of the speaker in loud, all over the place manner and struggle to conform to any kind of coherent structure.
And yet the incessant nature of the percussion and rhythms gives no pause for rest… it’s an unrelenting assault that left me struggling to find anything more to say about it, no matter how many times I tried to find a way in. But then that’s the nature of being experimental, I guess. It’s not to every taste.
Track listing: