Travail :: "Beautiful Loneliness"

As the metal scene has become mainstream, bringing bands like Papa Roach, Powerman 5000, Staind, KoRn, Limp Bizkit, and others to the radio, you’d think the genre would become further expanded with a wide variety of styles as performers of various influences seeped in. It seems, instead, the genre has thinned and, rather than drawing inspiration from musicians of the past, are drinking from the creativity, or lack thereof, of each other. As soon as a band of a particular sound hits the radio with success, five more bands will follow trying to sound the same. Sometimes, unfortunately, their plagiarism pays off, but most times not.

Is Travail no different? That’s a hard question to answer. I can’t name another band off the top of my head that sounds a lot like Travail’s 2000 release, Beautiful Loneliness, but it doesn’t change the fact that their brand of metal is nothing particularly new.

Matt (just Matt), the vocalist for Travail, spends much of his time at the microphone talking, taking on a Gryp-style front. When he does commit to screaming, his lyrics are welcomingly legible, a nice change from a majority of the Christian metal scene.

The album as a whole, though, isn’t overly tempting. It does have a couple songs (“Lies” and “Beaten”) that get you moving in your seat, bed, car, or wherever it is you most often listen to music. If you’re anything like me, you’ll dig it for the first few tracks before you realize the album repeats a style much the same over and over from song to song. By the eleventh song, you’re prepared to put it back in its case and stick it back on the shelf, pulled down again only occasionally for a quick fix.

That’s not to say it’s a poorly written album. There are some things that can be said positively for it. The lyrics are meaningful, if not sometimes a little silly, and understandable without having to look at the lyric sheet, which is a nice change for those who really do desire spirituality in their music. Also, they do show the potential to become a good metal band. They just have a little growing to do as a group of musicians. But Beautiful Loneliness doesn’t quite meet the standards. Perhaps next time, fellas. And I do hope there’s a next time.

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