I’ll start out by saying that I am a sucker for concept albums, although most of the time I am generally disappointed because of the lack of coherence and diversity in the tracks. A band needs to make all the tracks work well and make each one creative and unique without breaking the theme or sound of the album. With their album Holy Vacants, Trophy Scars have done just this; they have created a truly remarkable concept album that is great from start to finish.
The idea behind this album was originally going to be a
short screenplay by the vocalist/songwriter Jerry Jones. The album takes more of a fantasy/fiction
approach to the story it is trying to tell but a lot of the elements can be
connected to real life issues. Holy
Vacants is about a man and woman who are madly in love and they find out that
angels blood hold the answers to eternal life, with this information they start
to murder angels in order to never grow old.
Jones has this to say about the album, “The album was about being so
in love with somebody that they literally destroy you,” he explains. “I
had to write the album as a way of exorcising this person from my mind and
soul. I wanted a Bonnie and Clyde-type story, because I’ve always loved that.
There’s something beautiful about the idea of rebelling together against
something and losing yourself in the rebellion to the extent that it destroys
your life. It’s the doomed romanticism thing.”
Putting the rich
story aside; musically, this album is a home run. It is one of those albums that keeps you
engaged throughout because of the rich story elements and their perfected
classic rock style with a touch of some blues.
In a genre that is heavy in overdone guitar solos, Trophy Scars seem to
have perfected this without going over the top and being too much. Jones’ raspy vocals are perfect for the tone
of the album, there is a few times where he escalates to a scream which may
turn some listeners away but each scream is done with purpose and really shows
his emotion behind each track. Their
ability to change up their styles on each song but keep the flow of each track
intact is phenomenal. This band has an impressive
knowledge of how to truly compose a song.
The album is filled with all sorts of different instruments such as the
cello, violin, organ, trombone, trumpet, and piano accompanying the guitars,
bass, and drums. There is never a point
where the extra instruments seem tossed into the song, they always flow with
the tone of the song. Adam Fisher
delivers a wonderful vocal performance on Chicago Typewriter where his voice
gives variety to the male vocals on the album and he captures the emotion of
the story perfectly. One thing that
stuck out for me is their use of female guest vocals. Their voices fit perfectly into the tone of
the album and they deliver a top-notch performance matching the vocal styles of
Jones. This is an album that keeps you
engaged through every song and I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a
driven bluesy classic rock album for a relaxing day off.
9/10
Has laoreet percipitur ad. Vide interesset in mei, no his legimus verterem. Et nostrum imperdiet appellantur usu, mnesarchum referrentur id vim.
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