When first opening this record, I glanced at the cover art, track titles, and album length and made the assumption that this band must sound pretty damn cocky and aggressive. And I was right for the most part. The fact that there are only two songs on the whole record that are over two minutes and considering the first track is called "You Now Have 21:03 to Live" shows that this record has to be somewhat daring. I was expecting this record to hit me as hard as a tornado and well, it slightly delivered. Trigger Effect's Dare to Ride the Heliocraft is a short dose of punk rock with some hard rock and hardcore influences thrown in. To put things simple, the ride is short and sweet but doesn't leave much of a lasting impression.
Things kickoff with the boldly titled opener "You Now Have 21:03 to Live," which is filled with a bunch of news clips predicting Armageddon or another disaster of some sort. Then it leads into the rocking "Nothing Says Action Like Giant Robots," a 1:45 long jam where the band shows their hard rock tendencies, especially in the vocal department. One way to describe Trigger Effect's sound is a mix between The Bronx and Cancer Bats. Their guitar tone also shifts a lot on this album. Sometimes it sounds very similar to Every Time I Die, other times it comes across as dirty ("El Vice") or it'll sound almost perfect like on "Dropping Acid into the Eyes of Your Enemies." They also do a good job at making these songs very catchy and listenable by including as many addictive hooks as they can in less than two minutes. You'll actually be surprised.
Another thing to note is that this record doesn't stop. Meaning every track literally leads into the next one after the opener and it basically sounds like one long song even with some of the odd tone switches. This can go both ways; on one hand, they make everything blend into one and ride doesn't stop until the finish line and on the other hand, it can make the record unmemorable because everything sounds very similar. I'm somewhere in between on this opinion. I really like how everything blends in together to create a huge sound, but if you asked me to pick a standout track, that would be difficult. Nothing aside from the southern rock sounding "El Vice" and the monstrous title-track really jumped out at me on here.
The strongest point of this album is definitely the relentless aggression and chaos that it carries throughout. The consistency of this album also gives a live feel. I could probably imagine Trigger Effect recording this whole record in one sitting and rocking the hell out while doing so. The weakest point would have to be a lot of the lyrics and the goofy sound clips included on here - listen to "P.N.L.B" to see what I mean. I feel this band would be a lot more enjoyable live than they are on CD. Don't get me wrong, the record is pretty damn solid but there's not much replay value in it. It's probably something I'd see myself jamming to every two months or so and then not touching again. However, I'd definitely be first in line if I find out Trigger Effect is playing near me.
If you're thinking about "riding the heliocraft," prepare for a wild ride. Trigger Effect's destructive debut record will be fun while it lasts but it wont stay for too long. Be on the lookout for them if they're opening for one of you're favorite bands in due time, though. Just about every track on here is sure to be a blast live.
