Tripswitch—Until (2008)

Details

Tripswitch’s last EP ‘Until’ was immediately picked up for distribution by Code 7 through Plastic Head, garnered great reviews and even gained the band their first celebrity fan: Porn star Belladonna. A large promotional run followed its release, handled by Andy Copping at ACP, plus appearances on cover mounted CDs with Zero Tolerance and Terrorizer magazines. (Source: Tripswitch website.)

Band

• Jamie Armstrong—Vocals
• Peter Botterill—Drums/Samples
• Shaun Hodson—Guitar
• Rick Whitehead—Guitar
• Steve Dearnley—Bass

Tracks

1. Call It A Day
2. 1 Hit Infliction
3. Withered
4. 15:1
5. Answers
6. .
7. Outro

Review

If I had been played this EP blindfolded I would have sworn that the vocalist was Armored Saint / ex-Anthrax singer John Bush. Jamie Armstrong has a fabulous voice for metal: raspy but clear, and melodic but not at the cost of being able to shout a line or two if the need arises.

This is another one of those recordings that begins (with the song “Call it a day”) in a rather deceptive, almost pop-way before distorted guitars kick in and Tripswitch reveal their true hand: metal.

Or… maybe not. The following track, “1 Hit Infliction” suddenly takes a left-turn about half way through into something rather trippy and pop-like before coming to its senses once again and pummelling the song through one final riff until the end.

More than one song on this EP follows the same path, dabbling with poppy, electronic samples. It’s done well though, it doesn’t feel forced or contrived.

The EP definitely has a British vibe to it, reminding me in places of Xentrix or Skindred.

If I had one criticism it would be that many of the songs sound very alike, more than just the fact that they are all played by the same band. That aside, this is a decent EP not least due to the vocalist and the punishing stop-start riffs.

Conclusion

This is definitely moving into my main music collection. I’ll listen to this again, quite happily. Until…

Review score: 68%