As with most bands at the moment with releases, Castor Troy’s album Across The Water kicks off with an intro track titled Chapter One which takes a bit to get going itself but it’s your basic build up to the album to follow, a nice instrumental piece.
Next track Winter Lights kicks in dead on cue and it’s lead by a driving drumming beat at first but as the song grows so does the scope of all the instruments and the use of each at the exactly right part, such as the guitar solo which is mellow but emotive.
Undivided has many very hardcore elements to it and a heavy as hell guitar riff. But it feels like the guitar is slightly detached from the vocals because their styles don’t seem to mix very well. There’s also a pounding double kick bass drum but again the way they’ve all be used together doesn’t quite seem to fit. There’s even a hardcore breakdown. Individually all the elements are spot on. I love the melodic riff that ends the track but together they just don’t seem to fit.
The Condemned is a slower number with a heavy guitar. Jenny 23 is a fairly decent number that seems to stick to one genre and play thoroughly with the styles that seem to suit the band fully. The vocal works with the guitars and drums.
Castor Troy seem to be a band who are a bit unsure of their sound or overall direction. There’s several genres on this album, many that they cover well but I feel the album would’ve been better if they had picked a genre to stick to and really work on. A good collection of songs, but doesn’t really work as an album.
5/10
