Album Review: Trap Them - 'Seance Prime'

1 February 2008 | 6:31 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

For once you can believe the hype…

More Trap Them More Trap Them

Insert name here are

the most pissed off and aggressive band you’ll hear this year. Does

this sound familiar? The above quote could be taken from any number

of press releases I’ve been sent in the last six months, and to be

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honest, I’m growing rather tiresome of the sheer volume of labels

who tout insert name here as this year’s saviours of rock and

roll. 


Washington’s Trap Them

aren’t re-inventing the punk rock wheel, but they are a giant fuck

you to any band that relies on glitz and glamour to sell records. They

are a dirty, all out assault on the senses who’ve managed to condense

more musical venom into fifteen minutes than most bands can muster in

a life time. 


Having released a full length

record (Sleepwell Deconstructor) in April of last year, Trap Them

followed up with this short and sharp EP in October, and if these five

songs are any indication of what the band is capable of, then their

next release will something to behold.  


Ryan McKenney’s desperate

vocals come out kicking and screaming amid a sea of feedback and squealing

guitars, making “The Protest Hour” the ideal introduction to a Trap Them record. “Pulse Mavens” is a mid paced number that

would no doubt please fans of metal turned rock enthusiasts Entombed

and “Citizenihilist” sounds downright maniacal.  


Choosing a favourite track

from an EP is always a challenge, but the discordant grooves of “The

Iconflict” are simply unbeatable. The song’s tempo barely makes

it past a crawl but the intensity of Ryan’s vocals coupled with the power of the band’s musical performance makes

it sound menacing. “Wafers And Wine Of Sandblast Times” picks up

the pace again with a series of blasts and thrash beats guiding the

song through its various twists and turns… and really, what better

way to end a record!?


This CD is not for the faint

hearted but if fifteen minutes of aural violence sounds like your idea

of a good time then this is for you.


  1. Day Thirteen –

    The Protest Hour

  2. Day Fourteen –

    Pulse Mavens

  3. Day Fifteen –

    Citizenihilist

  4. Day Sixteen –

    The Iconflict

  5. Day Seventeen –

    Wafers And Wine Of Sa