No Trigger – Canyoneer / 2006 Nitro / 12 Tracks / http://www.notrigger.com / http://www.nitrorecords.com / Reviewed 12 February 2006

While the snotty vocals that hit the listener hard throughout all of “Canyoneer”, one cannot do anything but hear quite a large Sum 41 influence to the band. It is true that there are hints of both Strike Anywhere and Rise Against in tracks like “Neon National Park”, but this is couched in a much more pop-acceptable sound. With songs that are the epitome of polished riffs and pieces fitting together like a dog’s knot in whatever ey wants to do, No Trigger is poised to hit it big in the next year.

With this brand of hardcore meets pop-punk, No Trigger has found itself in really good company; it is thus the band’s own Sisyphean task to come up with a disc that maintains a listener’s interest throughout. Having guitars that remind listeners of early-nineties Bad Religion during tracks like “My Woods” is just one of many steps in which No Trigger begin to roll that rock up the hill. However, the band goes even farther in capturing the hearts of their listeners with “Fish Eye Lens”; the groove that the band works on in terms of vocal harmony and instrumental accompaniment during the track is perhaps the most infectious since Face to Face penned their “Disconnected” oh so many years ago. Each member of the band gets their own time in the sun; the bass that starts off “Owner Operator” really sets the tone as being darker than the tracks that immediately precede and follow it, and keep the disc fresh. The spastic drumming the brings “Bust Tropical” to prominence as the middle point of the disc is so on-topic and so fitting for the track that it is simply amazing that a human was behind the kid.

Dare I say it, but I doubt that a computer could not come up with a more fitting set of skin-hits for this song. Couple that with another catchy chorus, and No Trigger has just another track ready for their hits-to-be portfolio. Even if it may seem as if No Trigger is coming from nowhere, one must give the band some credit; with five years under their belt (they founded in 2000), No Trigger has came out with one of the most bombastic and impressive punk albums of the new year. With nothing to hold them back during “Canyoneer”, the only question that individuals need to have about No Trigger is where they can see them live in the weeks and months to come.

Top Tracks: Bust Tropical, Neon National Park

Rating: 7.6/10

[JMcQ]