Review by Adam M on March 15, 2011.

Here is an album that tries to have a tortured and bleak outlook via a chaotic musical display, but ends up being tepid and unfocused instead. The outfit recalls the likes of Celtic Frost at times, as seen from 'Flammenwerfer', but lacks the coherence and songwriting talent of that band by a long ways. The music here is often an inferno of sounds that has little structure or rhythm to back it up. When the band does stumble upon a groove, it doesn’t last long enough to maintain your interest.

There are probably people that will appreciate the rabid chaos on this album, but I think it lacks direction. The evil, cold vibe of the band isn’t upheld because the music isn’t convincing. Vocals are also very screechy, although they fit with the music. The production is very sub-standard and doesn’t do anything to help the songs achieve a level of potency that is necessary to make an impact. The songs do shift gears to offer some calm to the storm that overwhelms you and these are some of the more interesting portions to be found here.

To its credit, the album does get better as it progresses, but it doesn’t have enough focus as a whole to be totally worthwhile. There are people that will appreciate the raw, disordered nature of "Feuersturm", but I found it difficult to find facets of the album I could fully appreciate. The songs don’t come together as a total unit enough at any particular junction on the work. Pass on this one unless the style of music the band plays is appealing to you.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 2
Originality: 5
Overall: 4.5

Rating: 4.1 out of 10

Review by Adam M on March 15, 2011.

Here is an album that tries to have a tortured and bleak outlook via a chaotic musical display, but ends up being tepid and unfocused instead. The outfit recalls the likes of Celtic Frost at times, as seen from 'Flammenwerfer', but lacks the coherence and songwriting talent of that band by a long ways. The music here is often an inferno of sounds that has little structure or rhythm to back it up. When the band does stumble upon a groove, it doesn’t last long enough to maintain your interest.

There are probably people that will appreciate the rabid chaos on this album, but I think it lacks direction. The evil, cold vibe of the band isn’t upheld because the music isn’t convincing. Vocals are also very screechy, although they fit with the music. The production is very sub-standard and doesn’t do anything to help the songs achieve a level of potency that is necessary to make an impact. The songs do shift gears to offer some calm to the storm that overwhelms you and these are some of the more interesting portions to be found here.

To its credit, the album does get better as it progresses, but it doesn’t have enough focus as a whole to be totally worthwhile. There are people that will appreciate the raw, disordered nature of "Feuersturm", but I found it difficult to find facets of the album I could fully appreciate. The songs don’t come together as a total unit enough at any particular junction on the work. Pass on this one unless the style of music the band plays is appealing to you.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 2
Originality: 5
Overall: 4.5

Rating: 4.1 out of 10

Review by Adam M on March 15, 2011.

Here is an album that tries to have a tortured and bleak outlook via a chaotic musical display, but ends up being tepid and unfocused instead. The outfit recalls the likes of Celtic Frost at times, as seen from 'Flammenwerfer', but lacks the coherence and songwriting talent of that band by a long ways. The music here is often an inferno of sounds that has little structure or rhythm to back it up. When the band does stumble upon a groove, it doesn’t last long enough to maintain your interest.

There are probably people that will appreciate the rabid chaos on this album, but I think it lacks direction. The evil, cold vibe of the band isn’t upheld because the music isn’t convincing. Vocals are also very screechy, although they fit with the music. The production is very sub-standard and doesn’t do anything to help the songs achieve a level of potency that is necessary to make an impact. The songs do shift gears to offer some calm to the storm that overwhelms you and these are some of the more interesting portions to be found here.

To its credit, the album does get better as it progresses, but it doesn’t have enough focus as a whole to be totally worthwhile. There are people that will appreciate the raw, disordered nature of "Feuersturm", but I found it difficult to find facets of the album I could fully appreciate. The songs don’t come together as a total unit enough at any particular junction on the work. Pass on this one unless the style of music the band plays is appealing to you.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 2
Originality: 5
Overall: 4.5

Rating: 4.1 out of 10

Review by Adam M on November 24, 2016.

Trap Them has a huge Entombed vibe to their proceedings. This is shown by the dirty riffing of the outfit which is catchy and massive sounding. The music is built upon these guitar riffs that have a huge impact overall. The sound never deviates largely from the Entombed sound and thus has an issue with innovation.

These songs sound heavy and intense, but there’s nothing new on offer here really. This leads me to believe that the band is maxed out at their current output and wouldn’t be able to incorporate much new into their sounds. Still, with the raucous heaviness of the band, one is greatly captivated by this sound. It works to their advantage to have the riffs being played in this manner because it allows them to groove. There is certainly a swagger to these songs and it’s infectious to behold. Songs are short and to the point, but make their mark upon the listener in the short running time offered. The amount of distortion is also high and helps keep the tracks sounding potent and vital. This means that an overall intense sound is offered by Trap Them and leads them to being such a focused outfit. However, the lack of innovation really hurts the band. There are tons of bands like Vomitory that have performed this still and possibly even better than what’s on offer here. There’s not a huge reason to listen to this band unless you’re absolutely obsessed with the Entombed style then. This will do nothing to change your mind. It will only build upon what has already been established.

When the music performed with such accuracy it’s hard to skip upon, however. Crown Feral is a good album of the style, but it’s already been done before by other bands and better as well.

Rating: 7 out of 10