Review by Daniel for Trilogy - Life on Earth (1985)

Perth trio Trilogy began life as Saracen way back in 1980, making them arguably the first Western Australian metal band. They were built around talented vocal, bass & synthesizer whiz Jon Ryder who was known as Australia's answer to Rush's Geddy Lee & Saracen's impressive technical skills quickly made them a major player in the Perth live scene. Things looked set to come crashing down when guitarist John Meyer decided to leave Saracen in order to join legendary Oz rock group Rose Tattoo in 1983 but the remaining duo would find the answer shortly afterwards in Black Alice axeman Jamie Page (Black Steel/Angus McDeth/Project X) whose Eddie Van Halen-influenced style would become a significant asset for the band. The change in personnel would trigger an adjusted moniker too with Saracen moving on to new horizons as Trilogy in 1984. After proving themselves in the live arena, the newly solidified unit would record their debut full-length "Life on Earth" at Bonsai Studios in Perth with producer Brett Lyons. It would go on to gain Trilogy the exposure that they were after, particularly oversees where the European audience appreciated the complexity & professionalism of Trilogy's mildly symphonic sound. The honeymoon period wouldn't last too long though as Paige would quit the band shortly afterwards in order to relocate to the UK, at which time Trilogy would experience a homecoming with former guitarist John Meyer & revert back to their original Saracen moniker for their second & final album.

When I first became involved with the Australian metal scene in the very late 1980's, I would often see Trilogy's name floating around. Older metalheads would also mention them in conversation but, for one reason or another, I didn't find myself checking them out until earlier this decade. I was reasonably impressed with what I heard too & I can certainly understand why the trio would have been a fairly big deal in their hometown of Perth. Despite being released independently, "Life on Earth" is a classy record in many respects & you can easily hear that Trilogy had already paid their dues by cutting their chops in the live scene. These guys all really knew what they were doing with their chosen instruments but also understood song-writing concepts too. In saying that though, "Life on Earth" does hint at a band that were still finding themselves stylistically as there are three very clear points of influence to be found across the ten tracks on offer. The first is the obvious Rush comparison with Ryder very clearly being inspired by Geddy Lee. Ryder's impeccable bass chops & higher-register vocal tone sound dominate the listener's focus & it's kinda hard to understand how someone can reach this level without reaching greater heights in terms of commercial success. The second influence is that of NWOBHM giants Iron Maiden with the galloping basslines, melodic guitar/keyboard harmonies & up-tempo energy of the more metallic material drawing clear comparisons. And the third source of inspiration was clearly drawn from US hard rock mega-group Van Halen with Paige's guitar solos displaying an unquestionable devotion to Eddie Van Halen who was also my greatest guitar idol during my formative years.

The tracklisting has its ups & downs but generally settles at a pretty decent average. One of the highlights comes from flashy instrumental "The Hammer" which is built around concepts drawn from Van Halen's turbo-charged "Hot for Teacher". My personal favourite is the Maiden-esque heavy metal banger "Pariah" though as it presents Trilogy as very fine & undeniably classy metal act. Things didn't go so well on the fairly flat heavy rocker "Playing With Your Life" or the overly cheesy AOR power ballad "Holding You Close" though so you've kinda gotta take the good with the bad. I don't think Ryder's vocal delivery was ever going to allow Trilogy to feel like a red-blooded metal band so they tend to dance between heavy metal & hard rock a lot of the time. The symphonics aren't overdone which I appreciate but they do seem to have fooled a lot of the world into believing that Trilogy were a fully-fledged progressive metal band which isn't the case, despite the inclusion of a couple of more progressive rock numbers in "Holding You Close" & "Wasting Time".

Overall, it's hard to complain too much about "Life on Earth" as it would appear to have fulfilled Trilogy's intentions nicely. 80% of the album is well worth listening to & I'm actually a little surprised that they didn't go on to bigger & better things to be honest. It's been a while since I've checked out their subsequent release in 1986's "Next in Line" but it's on my radar for the next few months so I'll be interested to see how it compares. As it stands though, "Life on Earth" is unlikely to disappoint too many of our The Guardians members but I don't think it'll become compulsory listening for many either.

For fans of Rush, Saracen (AUS) & Surrender.