Review: Trup – Szmula

Not much is known about the Polish band Trup, except for the fact that the band is formed in 2017 and that its line-up consists of vocalist B, guitarist/vocalist P and drummer/vocalist V. Last October Trup’s debut album was released. This debut is titled Szmula and is released via fellow Poles Godz ov War Productions.

Are you looking for quiet, calm music? Then you’d better stop reading, because Trup’s Szmula definitely isn’t quiet and calm. Unless you become quiet and calm from listening to noisy, brutal and intense music of course, because that’s exactly what Trup delivers on Szmula. Something that also can be expected when only looking at the very dark cover of Szmula. The tracklist probably also raises questions because of it not being that logic. The titles on Szmula all only consist of a number and are counting logically, but the first song is titled 07 and the last one being 14.

As you can read above all three band members deliver vocals. Those vocals are the most impressing and most standing out part of Szmula. Immediately in the quite chaotic kicking in, short but powerful pounding opener 07, we’ll hear ominous screams and grunts, while the screams in the slower, dark-ambienty starting and furthermore doomy and sludgy 09 are very chilling, with these sounding really horrifying during the end of this track. We’ll also hear very low grunts as well as hellish, upsetting screams in the also quite doomy and sludgy 10, with those screams also returning in a very terrifying way in 13 and album closer 14. Furthermore there are also some special vocal details to be heard such as the very short squeaky vocals and the almost clean, but very dark vocals in 10 and 14. In closer 14 there also is another special vocal detail to be heard, the very creepy laugh, that also can be heard in the droning starting 11.

It may be clear that the vocals are very intense and so is the instrumentation, while the emphasis clearly seems to be on the vocals. Instrumentally we mainly hear a wall of guitars with very brutally pounding drums that combined creates a hugely thick wall of sound as a basis for those intense vocals. At some moments enormously fast and chaotic, at other moments somewhat slower, doomier and sludgier. For example, the very energetic track 12 pounds very heavily, while 09 in comparison is quite a bit slower and doomier. However, neither of the tracks is inferior to the others in terms of intensity and brutality. Szmula in its entirety becomes even more intense due to the very gritty and raw production in which especially the drums and the vocals regularly sound a bit drowned, as becomes the most clear in 12. However, as I already said, this only makes it even more intense and so it perfectly fits with the very special music that Trup shows on Szmula.

Are brutality, intensity, chaos, walls of sound, darkness and terrifying and chilling sounds what you prefer to listen to? Then don’t look any further. Trup’s Szmula is exactly what you’re looking for!

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