Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Trouble - Psalm 9 (1984)
Trouble's eponymous debut is a tale of two halves for me. The first half is me thinking that this is why I got into heavy metal in the first place. With its big riffs and lethal threat levels of groove and doom, there is little to argue with on Psalm 9 when it comes to the bangers such as album opener The Tempter, the charging triumph of The Fall of Lucifer or the epic gloom of Psalm 9. Both tracks are examples of the band at their finest for me and are tracks that represent the very essence of what doom metal should sound like. There is a vibrancy and energy underneath that requisite level of murk that shows a band with their artform flowing through their very veins. The riffs of Wartell and Franklin are huge and yet at the same time they are clearly players unafraid to mix it up and change pace and influence to inject some variety to proceedings. The vocal talents of the late Mr Wagner are accurately logged throughout history and it is hard to find a comparable vocalist, past or present that has such a unique and equally fitting style for their chosen genre of music. He is imperious here. His piercing yet gruff musings punctuate each and every song on here.
Arguably for me, this is also where the second half of my experience of the album comes from. As much as I admire Wagner's vocals the adoption of them on some tracks (in terms of the lyrical content and their delivery) is far too preachy for my liking. This is not a criticism that I level from the aspect of their being a large Christian focus on the lyrics here. Sharing aspects of your faith in your music is not something I have a problem with. Here though, there is an underlying naivety to the lyrics. Victim of the Insane is a bleating tirade from a vocal perspective, saved only by the superb lead work and accompanying tempo change that heralds its arrival. The raging Bastards Will Pay is another example of a song with a message to deliver but not quite having the maturity to tailor it to be less overwhelming. At times the messaging feels like it is from a gothic metal album as opposed to a straight up doom record. I acknowledge of course that this was a debut release and so the most likely of a band's discography to contain the rookie mistakes.
The above does not ruin the album for me by a long chalk. It is an issue that is reflected in my rating most definitely but there is still a lot to enjoy and praise here. Even the instrumental track that I normally dread on most records is interesting and totally in keeping with the album direction overall. The drumming of Jeff Olson could be represented better in the mix overall but I would not go as far to say that it is stifled to any degree, just a little too far back in the mix. As a benchmark doom record for the "Early Days" challenge in The Fallen clan, Trouble's debut album is a superb starter for ten for anyone wanting to dip their toe in these murky yet rippling waters.