Trocaria - The Dark Nears

This duo band coming from North Carolina may have a future ahead for years to come, and they just got started. When you think of Symphonic and Death Metal, you think of; Opeth, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Dimmu Borgir, and Redemption to name a few as a big band performing in front of Metal festivals and selling out arenas,stadiums,and outdoor festivals like no other. But for a band like Trocaria, they have a long road to go on, but with their debut album, The Dark Nears, released this year, it proves that it’s not your typical metal album, but very much of a tiny practice to see what the band might have in store for us, years to come.

The duo considers Jon on vocals, whose voice resembles an early Mikael Akerfeldt meets a dooming Cookie Monster from Sesame Street and dare I say, Count Cronos, vampire supreme from Venom? You get the general idea while Joan Palmer who launched the band back in 2007, plays all the instruments including guitar, bass, keyboards on programming on the drums, makes her a virtuoso and the captain in charge of Trocaria providing a lot of the sound and atmosphere for what is to come of the genre of Symphonic Death Metal of the 21st century. When you listen to The Dark Nears, there’s a bit of inspiration in the realms of the keyboard sound in the realms of Amberian Dawn and bits of After Forever chunked up in there as the death metal sound comes in through the controversial scene in Norway and Sweden as well.

There is a bit of darkness, medieval storytelling in growling vocal arrangements that show a lot of the power they have in them and while they are still getting an early start, they have a lot of up-and-coming momentum for them in the near future and beyond the infinite. It begins with the rumbling militant fighting for glory on Gates of Hell as Joan plays the guitar in the style of Kerry King and Kirk Hammett with an attitude on the riff attitude as Jon screams about the war that is going inside the hellish prison that is almost a horror movie soundtrack that would send a shiver down your spine.

While Martyr and Suicide are the most fearsome shrieking schizophrenic vocal arrangements and then have a mellowing haunting finale, The Burning Man goes into the medieval machine gun drum section which something out of Mike Portnoy’s technique style that Joan does to pay tribute to him, the lyrics deal with the demon who lives in our souls, the burning man himself will live in this woman’s heart that he loved with, has passed on, and still carries her memories in his heart and soul. The closing title track is the most mellowing and dooming composition pieces because while they have a touch of Symph and Death Metal in them, Jon and Joan lets the beast loose with a grand piano, double bass drums going into full speed, and guitar solo flying into the air.

Again, they have a fresh start and while I’m not crazy about the growling vocals, this group needs a huge amount of the word of mouth they need and see which long and winding road will take them into. Trocaria’s first album is not easy to listen to from start to finish, but it can only be a starting point for them to see where they go to next.