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Trollheart · 12-16-2011, 08:46 AM

Repression --- Trust --- 1980 (CBS)

Ah yes, Trust. My first (and I guess only) flirtation with French heavy metal. What an album! I didn't expect too much really, but I was surprised by how tight some of the songs are on this, how fluid the playing and how well the vocals sound. Admittedly, this was originally released in French only, presumably for the local market, but looking to score further afield the label asked Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 to reinterpret the lyrics and so an English version was released. This was, you'll be unsurprised to learn, the version I heard.

Although my only experience of Trust has ever been this album and one track on a compilation (“Killer watts”, if memory serves), called “L'elite” --- not too hard to work out the translation to that one! --- they had, over the course of their almost thirty-five year career, fifteen albums released. Admittedly, two of these were the same, the abovementioned “Repression”, first in their native French and then in English, and also admittedly they broke up in 1984 then reformed in 1988, possibly on the back of renewed popularity when “Antisocial” (from this album) was covered by Anthrax, but it's still an impressive list.

I don't know how successful they ever were, and most of their post-breakup material seems to have been released only for the French market (but may have sold outside that of course), but if they have two claims to fame, they would be the above cover of their song and also that Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was in their ranks. Trust's songs apparently reflected a deep-seated interest in politics, and tended to be very anti-establishment, almost as if they were more a punk than a rock band, but as most of their albums were in French and mine is certainly not up to scratch, I couldn't tell you much more about their lyrical themes. Certainly, some of the songs on this album do show that sort of leaning, as we will see.

It opens with that covered song, with a deceptively gentle guitar which suddenly gets all Iron Maiden, and the song takes off. Vocalist Bernard “Bernie” Bonvoisin has a great ragged voice, and he does a great job on this, not screaming or roaring, really showing many metal singers how it's done. Norbert “Nono” Krief on guitar trades licks with second guitarist Yves “Vivi” Brusco, but it's the former who rips off a dazzling solo, and the political lyric can be heard as Bernie sings ”Your claim to fame is law and order :/ The rich get rich and the poor get poor./ You put a price-tag on what you see :/ This one's for you and that's for me.” Very punk its its lyrical elements if not in its delivery, it's a great opener and you can see why Anthrax thought it would be a good song to cover, as it's pretty universal. It has great power, a simple message and obviously goes down (or went down) well onstage, with the shouted chorus --- to, no doubt, much fist-clenching --- ”An-ti-so-cial! An-ti-so-cial!”

“Mr. Comedy” keeps the rockin', with more undiscovered gems in Krief's guitar solos, then “In the name of the race” starts off a slow cruncher, with more heavily political lyrics courtesy of Bonvoisin: ”I'm the zombie of yesterday's children/ Born and bred in total confusion/ In the name of the race I pass/ I'll go forward but remember the past/ I'll never be your plastic image/ For you to rape and then to pillage.” Powerful, angry stuff. With about a minute to go Krief's winds up his guitar and just lets fly as the song kicks up about four gears.

“Death instinct” concentrates on the one-time Public Enemy Number One in France, Jacques Mesrine, and deplores the treatment of prisoners as an example that France is turning into a police state, with a stark closing line: ”Order reigns, death and silence.” One of the standouts on the album is up next, in “Walk alone”, a great rocker with some excellent solos and a real sort of boogie beat behind it. Bonvoisin growls ”Walk, walk in front of me/ But my eyes are never dulled with fear/ Walk, walk in front of me/ But my eyes will never shed a tear.” Some really special guitar work from Krief in this, then it's followed by the actual standout, the tremendous, ponderous, tragic and angry “Paris is still burning”.

Bass guitar really plays a central role in this song, and there seems to be some confusion as to who plays that, but I'm going to take a chance and say Brusco. There's a great flurry of guitar solo from Krief, then the song settles into an almost blues vibe as Bonvoisin snarls ”Paris is still burning/ With the flames of wasted youth/ But in the fields of Flanders/ The poppies cry the truth.” It's a moody, dark and disturbing song, a real triumph for Trust, and really gets across the anger and frustration of lives wasted through senseless wars. Bonvoisin's views on nuclear power are also made clear when he snaps ”The flames get bigger by the hour/ But we stand still/ We've got tomorrow's gift of genius/ Atomic power!” Beautiful blues guitar licks just add to the class of this song, which should have been a proper classic.

“Pick me up, put me down” and “Get out your claws” are straight-forward rockers, though I could swear I hear piano in the former, even if it's not credited. “Pick me up” even features sax, though again there's no information as to who's playing it, but it adds a real sense of heart and fun to the song, even if the lyric is angry and full of resentment: ”They judge you, accuse you, sentence you to life/ Your only sun, a commercial bomb/ The modern-age push-button control/ Just a robot with no fixed emotions.” Following this, “Get out your claws” is a kind of strutting rocker, much more guitar-driven with a real call to action: ”A man condemned will never understand/ The veins of plastic propaganda/ So he pays them back with diction/ That the media look at with wounded eyes./ But you're the man who'll pay his way/ Then be told you're off to war/ To die as a sacrifice to no one.”

There's little doubt the original lyrics suffered in the translation to English, as there are some ideas here that just don't make sense (“pays them back with diction”?) but even were I to listen to the original I wouldn't understand it as I don't speak French, so we'll have to work with the lyrics we have. The anger evident on this song makes me think of the likes of Fish expounding against the futility of war in “Forgotten sons”, or maybe some of the more socially-minded rappers: definitely a man with a social conscience who uses his music to channel it.

“Sects” attacks, not surprisingly, religious offshoots and particularly Jim Jones, who caused so many people to follow him to their deaths. It's a fast, angry rocker with lots of guitar and a real punch in the song. When Bonvoisin screams ”Murder! Murder! Murder!/ The zero hero!” and Krief racks off a superb solo, you really feel the song getting to you, then at the end Bernie snaps ”I die, you die, don't ask why!” as the song crashes to an end.

The closer, the only song not translated, begins with a spoken vocal by Bonvoisin, joined by bass guitar as “Le mitard” gets under way. I've looked for translations for this, and been told it's both “the hole” and “the longest yard”, but at any rate it appears to go back to Jacques Mesrine, but of course being in French I can't tell you what slant it takes on the criminal. It's a good mid-paced rocker though, and closes the album in atmospheric style, Bonvoisin's anger and vitriol somehow more effective in his native language.

As I say, when I heard this I was really impressed, considering I had never heard of the band before. Listening back to it now, thirty years later, I'm wowed all over again. It's a hard album to get your hands on (believe me, I tried, and ended up having to use YouTube clips to review it: thanks by the way to the guy who had the foresight to upload the English version. You can get the French recording, but the English one seems to be like gold dust), but if you take the time to seek it out --- or just watch it on YouTube, I believe you'll be similarly impressed.

One thing is for sure, as representatives for a long time of heavy metal in France, Trust did their country proud.

TRACKLISTING

1. Antisocial
2. Mr. Comedy
3. In the name of the race
4. Death instinct
5. Walk alone
6. Paris is still burning
7. Pick me up, put me down
8. Get out your claws
9. Sects
10. Le mitard

12-16-2011, 08:46 AM	#617 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Repression --- Trust --- 1980 (CBS) Ah yes, Trust. My first (and I guess only) flirtation with French heavy metal. What an album! I didn't expect too much really, but I was surprised by how tight some of the songs are on this, how fluid the playing and how well the vocals sound. Admittedly, this was originally released in French only, presumably for the local market, but looking to score further afield the label asked Jimmy Pursey of Sham 69 to reinterpret the lyrics and so an English version was released. This was, you'll be unsurprised to learn, the version I heard. Although my only experience of Trust has ever been this album and one track on a compilation (“Killer watts”, if memory serves), called “L'elite” --- not too hard to work out the translation to that one! --- they had, over the course of their almost thirty-five year career, fifteen albums released. Admittedly, two of these were the same, the abovementioned “Repression”, first in their native French and then in English, and also admittedly they broke up in 1984 then reformed in 1988, possibly on the back of renewed popularity when “Antisocial” (from this album) was covered by Anthrax, but it's still an impressive list. I don't know how successful they ever were, and most of their post-breakup material seems to have been released only for the French market (but may have sold outside that of course), but if they have two claims to fame, they would be the above cover of their song and also that Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was in their ranks. Trust's songs apparently reflected a deep-seated interest in politics, and tended to be very anti-establishment, almost as if they were more a punk than a rock band, but as most of their albums were in French and mine is certainly not up to scratch, I couldn't tell you much more about their lyrical themes. Certainly, some of the songs on this album do show that sort of leaning, as we will see. It opens with that covered song, with a deceptively gentle guitar which suddenly gets all Iron Maiden, and the song takes off. Vocalist Bernard “Bernie” Bonvoisin has a great ragged voice, and he does a great job on this, not screaming or roaring, really showing many metal singers how it's done. Norbert “Nono” Krief on guitar trades licks with second guitarist Yves “Vivi” Brusco, but it's the former who rips off a dazzling solo, and the political lyric can be heard as Bernie sings ”Your claim to fame is law and order :/ The rich get rich and the poor get poor./ You put a price-tag on what you see :/ This one's for you and that's for me.” Very punk its its lyrical elements if not in its delivery, it's a great opener and you can see why Anthrax thought it would be a good song to cover, as it's pretty universal. It has great power, a simple message and obviously goes down (or went down) well onstage, with the shouted chorus --- to, no doubt, much fist-clenching --- ”An-ti-so-cial! An-ti-so-cial!” “Mr. Comedy” keeps the rockin', with more undiscovered gems in Krief's guitar solos, then “In the name of the race” starts off a slow cruncher, with more heavily political lyrics courtesy of Bonvoisin: ”I'm the zombie of yesterday's children/ Born and bred in total confusion/ In the name of the race I pass/ I'll go forward but remember the past/ I'll never be your plastic image/ For you to rape and then to pillage.” Powerful, angry stuff. With about a minute to go Krief's winds up his guitar and just lets fly as the song kicks up about four gears. “Death instinct” concentrates on the one-time Public Enemy Number One in France, Jacques Mesrine, and deplores the treatment of prisoners as an example that France is turning into a police state, with a stark closing line: ”Order reigns, death and silence.” One of the standouts on the album is up next, in “Walk alone”, a great rocker with some excellent solos and a real sort of boogie beat behind it. Bonvoisin growls ”Walk, walk in front of me/ But my eyes are never dulled with fear/ Walk, walk in front of me/ But my eyes will never shed a tear.” Some really special guitar work from Krief in this, then it's followed by the actual standout, the tremendous, ponderous, tragic and angry “Paris is still burning”. Bass guitar really plays a central role in this song, and there seems to be some confusion as to who plays that, but I'm going to take a chance and say Brusco. There's a great flurry of guitar solo from Krief, then the song settles into an almost blues vibe as Bonvoisin snarls ”Paris is still burning/ With the flames of wasted youth/ But in the fields of Flanders/ The poppies cry the truth.” It's a moody, dark and disturbing song, a real triumph for Trust, and really gets across the anger and frustration of lives wasted through senseless wars. Bonvoisin's views on nuclear power are also made clear when he snaps ”The flames get bigger by the hour/ But we stand still/ We've got tomorrow's gift of genius/ Atomic power!” Beautiful blues guitar licks just add to the class of this song, which should have been a proper classic. “Pick me up, put me down” and “Get out your claws” are straight-forward rockers, though I could swear I hear piano in the former, even if it's not credited. “Pick me up” even features sax, though again there's no information as to who's playing it, but it adds a real sense of heart and fun to the song, even if the lyric is angry and full of resentment: ”They judge you, accuse you, sentence you to life/ Your only sun, a commercial bomb/ The modern-age push-button control/ Just a robot with no fixed emotions.” Following this, “Get out your claws” is a kind of strutting rocker, much more guitar-driven with a real call to action: ”A man condemned will never understand/ The veins of plastic propaganda/ So he pays them back with diction/ That the media look at with wounded eyes./ But you're the man who'll pay his way/ Then be told you're off to war/ To die as a sacrifice to no one.” There's little doubt the original lyrics suffered in the translation to English, as there are some ideas here that just don't make sense (“pays them back with diction”?) but even were I to listen to the original I wouldn't understand it as I don't speak French, so we'll have to work with the lyrics we have. The anger evident on this song makes me think of the likes of Fish expounding against the futility of war in “Forgotten sons”, or maybe some of the more socially-minded rappers: definitely a man with a social conscience who uses his music to channel it. “Sects” attacks, not surprisingly, religious offshoots and particularly Jim Jones, who caused so many people to follow him to their deaths. It's a fast, angry rocker with lots of guitar and a real punch in the song. When Bonvoisin screams ”Murder! Murder! Murder!/ The zero hero!” and Krief racks off a superb solo, you really feel the song getting to you, then at the end Bernie snaps ”I die, you die, don't ask why!” as the song crashes to an end. The closer, the only song not translated, begins with a spoken vocal by Bonvoisin, joined by bass guitar as “Le mitard” gets under way. I've looked for translations for this, and been told it's both “the hole” and “the longest yard”, but at any rate it appears to go back to Jacques Mesrine, but of course being in French I can't tell you what slant it takes on the criminal. It's a good mid-paced rocker though, and closes the album in atmospheric style, Bonvoisin's anger and vitriol somehow more effective in his native language. As I say, when I heard this I was really impressed, considering I had never heard of the band before. Listening back to it now, thirty years later, I'm wowed all over again. It's a hard album to get your hands on (believe me, I tried, and ended up having to use YouTube clips to review it: thanks by the way to the guy who had the foresight to upload the English version. You can get the French recording, but the English one seems to be like gold dust), but if you take the time to seek it out --- or just watch it on YouTube, I believe you'll be similarly impressed. One thing is for sure, as representatives for a long time of heavy metal in France, Trust did their country proud. TRACKLISTING 1. Antisocial 2. Mr. Comedy 3. In the name of the race 4. Death instinct 5. Walk alone 6. Paris is still burning 7. Pick me up, put me down 8. Get out your claws 9. Sects 10. Le mitard __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018