Trap Them – Darker Handcraft
Prosthetic Records – 2011
I can’t figure out why, but it took me a while to jump on the Trap Them bandwagon. I was already knee-deep in the metallic hardcore hole, but it took me a while to crack this nut. But through the persistence of Michael from my old band, Husk, I was shown the light. Thanks, Mike!
These guys take everything I love about the genre and turn it up to eleven. Abrasive? Check. Hooky? Check. Lyrics spat with conviction? Check. This album is full of filthy party-starting anthems that frequently make it on to my Vaterland playlists – especially certified banger ‘The Facts.’ Live this shit slapped too. Maybe a bit stiff from the band, but frontman Ryan McKenney was always seethingly dangerous, none more so than the last show they played in Oslo.
Unfortunately you’ll never see them again, COVID or otherwise, they called it quits about a year later. But on that tour he managed to break both heels and one ankle on one of the first shows (around 8:20 here https://youtu.be/1MMbO7Mfoyc?t=500) and not only finish the set, but the whole tour. By the time they got to Oslo to play the last show he was dominating the stage in a wheelchair. And more vicious than ever. I remember speaking to one of the guys post-show and him telling me he refused to take painkillers pre-show to be clear and present. That’s dedication. Whenever gigs come back to some form of normality, I hope bands and audiences can take a page from Ryan’s book. The sweat-filled air between the walls of underground venues is a place for expression and we should give 100% (if not more) of ourselves to it.
FFO: Turning up every dial on your HM-2 to 11.