Trojan Horse :: Trojan Horse

Two statements by Manchester’s Trojan Horse about sum it up:

“We play some mutated strain of progressive rock. Judging by dwindling audience numbers, it’s pretty deadly.”

“We make Prog-Rock. It’s not about being pretentious, it’s about letting everyone know how good you are.”

Trojan Horse conceal much more than just prog-rock in their shell. Touching on some things post-rock, dipping into math-rock/metal and dabbling in the straight ahead bizarre, Trojan Horse aren’t creating your Dad’s prog. Progressive in scope and approach as well as execution, Trojan Horse still make nods to the Old Ones with flashes of Crimson-like bombast and more psych-prog leanings, more often than not in the same song {Patricroft Way and for the sake of argument, the centerpiece Bicycle Jam}. Laces and Racists starts out sounding like a Tunng cut before launching into an almost anthemic chug that changes directions more times than most outfits do on one album. Black Russian even throws in some slightly heavy funk bang into their extremely mixed bag of tricks … Even more loosely pop-oriented tracks like Brazilian and Sex and the 6Eight get filtered thoroughly through their eclectic still and become more widescreen, more encompassing in their excursions. Want some sinister, mad circus ambience? You’ll find that, too. Need a breather? They’re in there: … And the Lights Went Down is a quiet, soulful blast of brisk air in the dense swirling Trojan Horse atmosphere.

Prog is a hard animal to nail down. On one side you have adherents to a stringent code and on the other, folks who find anything out in the wasteland that goes outside the norm, or might need a chaser to wash some of it down, falling under the umbrella of prog. Trojan Horse, apparently, take both approaches and make it work. It’s definitely not everyday prog that will be to everyone’s liking, as made clear by Trojan Horse’s ‘dwindling audience numbers.’  Trojan Horse requires some interaction and attention that most audiences just won’t cough up; if this is your cup of tea and you want something out of it, then you have to put something into it. Regardless of what you think, this Trojan Horse is diligently put together and constructed. Just be ready for what jumps out … .

Patricroft Way :: Trojan Horse :: Trojan Horse {BandCamp}