Triptaka are an American three piece hailing from “the Great White North” according to their press bio which is nothing to do with Jack Russell’s band but is another way of saying Seattle! I’ve been listening to a three track sampler from their debut album “Second War” which has been a long time coming as they’ve been together for around ten years! 

First impressions were very good with opening track “Lost And Leading” showing their industrial credentials with a brooding low key start, a nice bass hook and mellow breathy vocals deliberately kept low in the mix. The song grooves along nicely building up and calming down again in waves almost hypnotically reminding me in places of Tool and Nine Inch Nails.  

As I listened to the other two tunes the NIN comparisons started to come thick and fast what with the trippy, jazzy beats and stop start distorted riffing of “Suspended” and the staccato drums and distorted vocal harmonies of “Tamed”. They are obviously heavily influenced by Trent Reznor, Tool and the like but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They are all obviously great musicians and the song writing in these three songs is at worst interesting, At best I would say “Lost And Leading” is better than anything on the last two NIN albums!  

I do not claim to be an expert in the industrial genre but I’m sure that there is room for another band of this class and I am surprised that these guys are not on any label and have released “Second War” independently. I would be intrigued to hear the full album to see if this quality is maintained throughout. In the meantime of you’ve worn out your copies of “Lateralus” and “The Fragile Nothing” then you could do worse than to check this lot out.

Contact: www.myspace.com/triptaka

Track Listing

Lost And Leading
Suspended
Tamed

Line Up

Graeme Cornies - Vocals
Dave Kelly - Guitars
James Chapple - Synths