Review: Trident Waters – Opus Armada

Roulette Records (October 15th, 2021)

Reviewer: Dan Mann

I’ve been looking forward to hearing a full album’s worth of music from Trident Waters. I first saw them must be three years ago at a small festival and promptly bought their then new EP ‘Hollywood To Vegas‘, plus ordered their previous two EP’s.

Yes they impressed me that much!

Jumping back to present day and the band have really upped the ante. ‘Opus Armada‘ has been mixed by none other than Kevin Shirley, and mastered by another well known chap, Peter Maher.

Now I’m guessing this was not a cheap investment, but there are times a band or artist needs to  go big or go home as it were. You need to take these kind of steps if your going to lift yourself up the slippery rungs of the musical ladder.

So has it paid off? As I’ve said numerous times before, good production is everything, it can lift an average sounding album to one that grabs your attention. ‘Opus Armada‘ though is no average album. This is a band stretching themselves, hungry to achieve their potential.

Trident Waters have their feet planted across several genres, mixing a myriad of sounds and influences into a sound that helps them stand out more in a crowded scene.

From the opening bars of the Southern rock tinged ‘Seven Weeks‘, to the blues rock of ‘Good Time Roller‘, from the beginning of ‘Six Feet Under‘ reminisant of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘No More Tears’ to the out and out boogieness of ‘Vengeful Vulture‘, this album just get’s either your foot tapping or your head nodding. It really is an absolute pleasure to listen too.

And so to that tricky matter of stand out tracks. After half a dozen listens, so far, to the entire album I find myself gravitating to the fabulous bluesy ‘Wings Of Love‘, or the last track on the album, the catchy ‘Wrecking Ball‘ and finally the previously mentioned ‘Six Feet Under‘.

Not that there’s a bad song on the album I hasten to add!

I hope that ‘Opus Armada‘ opens the band up to a wider audience and gives them the much deserved lift up that ladder. Highly recommended.