I RARELY DO FULL ALBUM REVIEWS, BUT TRUCE RELEASED "UNENTITLED", SO...
Wednesday November 10, 2021
Last week, I received a message on Instagram that led me to add an album in its entirety to my Spotify playlists. The message was short, to the point, yet personalized and professional. Upon reading it, I knew I had to click “Play” on whatever song was attached to that kind of message. It was a whole album.
I was pleasantly surprised by the first song I clicked on, entitled “Ghost”, as I didn’t expect to hear a Thornley/Big Wreck/ Deftones (with a drop of old Silverchair, and a dash of Muse) hybrid of a band. Bold but true statement: it quickly became one of my favorite songs.
Moncton-based rock band, TRUCE is Spencer Davis (vocals/guitar), Red Kang (lead guitar), Alex Lemieux (bass), and Daniel Mills (drums). Though Daniel Mills resides in Brampton, Ontario, he splits his time between Ontario and New Brunswick, and remains a full-time member of the ensemble.
Their debut album, Unentitled was recorded and engineered in Davis’ studio, Mountain Sound in Moncton, and Mills recorded and engineered his drum parts of the album in his studio in Brampton. The album was mixed and mastered by Dean Hadjichristou at AllButtonsIn Recording Studio in Ottawa, Ontario.
The album kicks off with an instrumental intro with a to the album in “Hev A Lully Daye”. I can almost picture it in a scene of a movie where someone’s climbing the stairs, just to find a door slightly ajar. Upon opening the door, they are exposed to all the truths that lead to the overall plot of the story. That might just be me.
As we get into the songs with lyrics, the album title makes a lot more sense, as it appears to be the theme as a whole!
If you are in the Toronto area and listen to 977 HTZ FM, you’ve probably heard their single “Holyroller”, which is about someone who blindly stands on a pedestal of false moral superiority above those around them, just to hypocritically walk a different walk than they talk. I think we can all relate to this frustration being around that kind of energy. The walking “Live, Laugh, Love” signs of society, if you will. The single debuted on September 17, 2021 on Ashleigh Darrach’s morning show, and remained in the rotation on 977 HTZ FM.
I confirmed with Spencer Davis what “Home” was about and he replied, “The ‘No rights on stolen land’ is something I’ve always felt. I get a different kind of angry and passionate around Indigenous rights. It makes my blood boil.” I definitely feel this, too.
“Short Man” – if you’ve ever had a boss that made you dread going to work, or anyone at all with a false sense of superiority burst into your energetic bubble, you can probably already tell what this song is about by the title.
I experienced this familiar feeling when I listened to this album, and I had a flashback to when I first heard the Canadian band, Idle Sons. I played their three-track demo CD from front-to-back on repeat until I unfortunately lost the CD at a house party. They got signed and sadly never reproduced the original versions again. What I’m saying here is: if Unentitled by TRUCE was only available in limited edition CD format, and I lost the CD, I’d be bummed. Every song is perfect in its current state. It’s raw, multi-layered like a fresh slice of tiramisu, and it’s honest.
Overall, the theme of the album seems to call people out on their complete lack of self-awareness and disregard of the reality that they aren’t the absolute center of the universe, and need to take accountability. Where the heck was this album all these years?? The band formed just seven months ago, so I look forward to what else they’ll be cooking in the future!
Like what you hear? GET SOCIAL! Find the band on social media HERE.
*ALL SONGS ADDED TO MY “HEAVY” PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY*
