Brilliant album, easily Therapy?'s best. I've been told the band plays something called "pop metal". A bit weird, but with their thick riffs and inspired hooks, I guess it fits.Although I always felt Troublegum was a little too long. 14 tracks are a bit much, and although the last thre tracks (Femtex, Unrequited and Brainsaw) are by no means bad, it just feels like the natural conclusion of the album is track 11, Turn. So that's usually when I turn it off.
Some total classics on this one, such as Nowhere, Die Laughing and Trigger Inside, songs the band still plays live to this day. The first time I remember taking notice of Therapy? was when I saw the Die Laughing video in 1994 on MTV Europe (yes, MTV was good once) and thinking the song title was in German.
Later that year I saw the MTV Europe Music Awards in (I think) Berlin, where the band performed the song live, and I remember being struck by how fucking hard the drummer Fyfe Ewing was hitting, this dude was Dave Grohl times ten. Sadly, 1995's Infernal Love would be his last album with the band.
Therapy? is still around, still putting out records and touring, and they're still worth a listen but their undeniable peak was in 1994.
(mp3) Therapy? - Trigger inside
(mp3) Therapy? - Unbeliever
(mp3) Therapy? - Turn (recommended!)
Buy Troublegum @ Amazon.com.
The aforementioned performance of Die Laughing at the 1994 MTV Europe Awards:
Unbeliever live at Brixton Academy 1994:
The video for Turn:
3 comments:
Good call. Brilliant call, even. One thing that frustrates me is that Therapy?'s presence in rock is either forgotten or unknown. Just as well there's still us ol' faithful to big em up.
Troublegum is my all-time Top 10 for certain. It's accessible, it's heavy, it's dynamic - chock full of riffs.And the lyrics are spot on - dark and cathartic without being whingy. The only other band that are close are Alkaline Trio and most of their music ain't all that.
Keep championing this band whenever possible.
Therapy is definetely my fav metal band, if one may consider them so...
and their 2009 album 'crooked timber' is really really worth your time. so is their live - incarnation. seen them twice since the release of that. they're still full of energy on stage and have more than enough,good and great songs to fill 1,5 hour.
keep supporting these lads.
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