TRITA

Minneapolis, Minnesota prog rockers TRITA have recently released a brand new self-titled EP. The three piece band claims they have ripped out elements of various bands who have inspired them and piece them together cohesively into their own signature sound. The band also recently embarked on a 2 week national tour in support of the recent EP. The EP was recorded by Adam Tucker (Bastard Saint, Hate Beast, Ambassador Gun) at Signature Tone Recording in Minneapolis. This 3 track EP is short, but sweet, and just makes the anticipation for an LP even greater.

The opening track of the EP “Euphorbia” is an easy listening progressive introduction. The clean and melodic vocals give this song great harmony and flow. Ian Litten’s guitar playing throughout the track has a very appealing sound and really makes it different in comparison to other prog rock. You do get a few moments of some distorted riffage, but it’s just the right amount to change things up. In the latter part of the 7 minute song you do get some more aggressive vocals and it really beefs up the track. “Tin Ear” is in no way somber like the last track. The song starts with an aggressive attack, and continues to layer on the flavor throughout. Like the EP’s cover art TRITA seem to be masters at layering elements throughout each song. The riffs and aggressive vocals on this track contrast with the previous track and help you see the band in a very different light. Their sound really can’t be predicted, and their ability to go in various directions is one of their most powerful attributes. The progressive elements in their sound are pretty easy to pin point, but if you listen closely you can also hear some hardcore elements in their sound as well. “Rocks And Stones” is probably my favorite track on the album. It has this groove throughout and the vocals really come to the surface and grab your attention. There is some instrumental moments in the song that lead almost to a complete stop before picking back up in a much slower fashion. The song really takes a turn about halfway through and while it feels like a different song, but it works. TRITA will truly capture you with this EP, before you realize it you will have listened to the songs 3-4 times through. The material in this album is composed masterfully and it’s well worth a listen. - Metal Nexus

A self-described trio of non-virgins from Minneapolis got together one day and created the band TRITA. Their goal was to create music that they would want to listen to, and that’s exactly what the album TRITA is all about. This group of talented musicians specialize in playing rock, metal or progressive rock type of music. They’ve put together this album as a teaser of their style as they tour around and spread their name throughout the USA.

​The self-titled album TRITA starts out with the track “Euphoria.” The song starts out with an excellent and long drum solo. It is an amazing and great introduction to the album. It highlights the raw and badass talent of TRITA’s drummer. It’s fun, and really sets of the tone on a positive note. Unfortunately, the rest of the track does not live up to the hype. While the deep and heavy bass solo midway through the song does mirror the badass drum intro, the rest of the song falls a bit flat. The instruments are somewhat drowned out and the lyrics seem to be stuck in some sort of no-man’s-land middle ground. The song sounds like progressive rock, somewhat spacey but also metal-ly, but does not seem to have a clear and powerful identity.

The next track “The Ear” also starts out with an amazing, badass and unique drum solo. It sets a powerful tone right away. The heavy metal guitar riff that joins in soon after is also pretty badass, but somewhat cliche. Perhaps metalheads, or maybe more so heavy rock folks, will really like this track but it seems to be missing that unique factor to make it stand out. It could use a touch of creativity from the guitar or lyrics. There is a fun bass solo midway through, but all the creativity is drowned out with the more repetitive type of riffs and melody of the song.

The song “Rocks and Stones” is not introduced by those badass drums, unfortunately because the drummer is awesome and extremely talented. A guitar riff introduces this track. It has an excellent distortion though and has a very cool unique sound to it. The drums kick in soon after with a really interesting beat. This band clearly has very talented musicians. The vocals in this track are more calm, spacey, and I think this style of singing actually fits in with the other instruments much better. As a whole, the cohesion, style and sound of this track is the best of all three.

TRITA has some very talented musicians, but it seems they are still working on nailing down their specific and solid identity. The last track of TRITA does have a cohesive and unique sound that makes these guys stand out. They are talented musicians and clearly passionate about what they do. - Divide and Conquer

Rather than trying to hide the fact, Minneapolis' Trita comes right out as "a psychedelic Nirvana meets a punk rock Tool." Never mind the fact that Tool was pretty punk to start, and Nirvana were pretty trippy at times. This is shorthand for melodic, catchy hard rock with bestial, stripped down guitars delivering memorable riffs, with satin-smooth and emotive vocals breaking like a wave over the artillery fire of the rhythm section.

Trita may be musical magpies - they describe themselves as a mosaic of musical thievery - a kind of heavy metal mutant spliced together from the genetic material of Tool, The Mars Volta, These Arms Are Snakes, with a dash of New Age, post-rock and ambient music. Trita is heavy on ideas, and isn't afraid to throw things together in unusual ways, like the scratchy old oriental samples at the end of "Yellow Journalist", one of the strongest tracks on their album The Narcoma.

"Yellow Journalism" also is an example of what can go wrong with this EP, as Mike Baillie's vocals sound almost exactly like Maynard's, at his sweetest and most emotional, which is fine, but they also borrow the structure from “A Perfect Circle” song, following a similar Morse code thrash guitar outro as "Thinking Of You" from Mer de Noms.

It's not really a problem for me, but for a lot of people, music's success rides on the interplay between originality and relate-ability. You've got to sound a little bit like what's in, but deliver something people haven't heard before. I don't doubt that as Trita continues, they will do exactly that.

I feel like we might have another Neurosis or The Melvins on our hands - a heavy band, unafraid to take risks with a weird sense of humor. Their songwriting and musicianship means they can pull it off, which is exciting! As a longstanding metal head, I'm always waiting with baited breath for someone to inject the leaden grooves and thrash attacks with fresh blood.

Trita's influences may be some of the biggest names in extreme music, but their instincts are pure, raw, lo-fi, anarchic and individualistic. They play it clean, but record it dirty and weird. They are capable of great beauty, like the sunset guitars of "Turquoise" but they can summon the violence of the circle pit at will. This music is truly of the underground, but good enough for the mainstream, which suggests big things to come!

My only suggestion is that Trita try to find their own distinctive voice, or bring in other influences as well, as the general public is highly unforgiving of things that sound unoriginal. Judging from the amount of ideas on The Narcoma, I'm not worried. - Divide and Conquer

Trita’s sound admittedly falls more under the heavier ends of progressive rock and post-hardcore than what typically passes for post-rock these days, but they are a local Twin Cities band with an undeniably unique, experimental sound. And they just put out a new record. A really, really good new record which I think is worth checking out regardless if it doesn’t fall squarely within the regular trappings of this blog.

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After the noise filled “Pilot”, which serves as the album’s intro, the rest of the album is a mix of heavy riffage, both clean and harsher, hardcore style vocals, noise, spoken word, and, well… more. A lot more. Trita are a difficult band to place simply because they don’t like to stay in any one place for very long. Yet, they’ve somehow still managed to cement a consistent sound throughout their debut full length. The Narcoma is a stellar, if not slightly disorienting album (in a good way), that continuously introduces something new with each track.

One of the mainstays of Trita’s sound is the mixture of clean, almost Tool-esque sung vocals as well as shouted vocals heard on the majority of the tracks. Tracks such as “Is That What You Think It Did?”, “Enamel”, “Youth Pastor”, and “Was” establish the solid and already unique core the band orbit around. However, some of the highlights on The Narcoma, and what makes the record stand out as a whole, are where the band chooses to wantonly venture from that core.

The first such deviation is the end of “Yellow Journalist”, which employs an eerie sample of what sounds like a children’s toy. “Turquoise” is the first we hear Trita turn down the volume, if only briefly. Then there are the spoken word tracks “Ritual Slang” and “Lilac Debt”, as well as the prominent use of acoustic guitar on “Majesty Gray”, on a record otherwise dominated by heavily effected and overdriven guitar and bass. These kinds of surprise elements serve to strengthen Trita’s already solid sound, and the album as a whole would suffer without them.

Out of all the tracks, “Yellow Journalist” was quick to become one of my favorites, along with the frantic energy and almost Nirvana-like grungy riffs and vocals on both “Song in D” and “Ugly Knees”. Another standout is one of the slower tracks on the album, the appropriately titled “Subdue”. There are a lot of strong individual tracks on The Narcoma, but for the full experience of what it has to offer, the album begs to be listened to from front to back in a single sitting, rather than piece by piece.

Experimental to a T while never becoming alienating, Trita have released a solid debut. Reminiscent in places of both Tool and, even more so, the late These Arms Are Snakes, the band have created a sound that is all their own. If you’re looking for something fresh The Narcoma is definitely worth a listen. - Post In The Name