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Ashley Dalby's Reviews Journal: Triumph - Sport Of Kings! (1986)

RATING: 22%

TIME LINE:

-  It takes some DAMN GOOD reasoning to give this album such a low rating. The twenty-two implies the absolute nadir of musicality, a level that can only be dreamt of by mere mortals as Fred Durst and your blender. What in Satan's name could this album have done to deserve such a low rating?? It pretty much singlehandedly ENDED the second greatest musical institution the world has ever known, that's what. Now, strictly on a musical level, I would give this album a 54 or so. It's bad, it really is, but it's certainly not as bad as other albums, albums that would get a record-low "3%" rating. It's not even as bad as albums that were released the same year, and when all is said and done, it pretty much sums up the averageness of the 80's Glam Metal movement perfectly.

First off, it is where life really starts to fall apart for Triumph as a band. At this point, you can see the impending death - not just bodily, but creatively as well. They are out of Emmett's brilliant riffs, and with the saturation of synthesizers forcing them to scramble and improvise, so out comes one scared limp noodle, a few more assorted riffs here and there, and then all kinds of half-assed and half-baked ideas that pretty much do not belong in Heavy Metal, the land of the free, the home of the brave... unfortunately, the world caught on to THIS album, this expression of vapidity, and decided that THIS was the way to go.

This album is the Nirvana "Smells like Teen Spirit" of Triumph. It brought the band to their knees, and castrated them mightily. It is, then, by definition, the most damaging, counterproductive, and overrated LP ever to be released by the trio. Even standing it up on its own, and not letting it poison the minds of those that came after it, I wouldn't even put it in the top 10 most awesome metal releases of 1986... it's easily killed by the unholy trinity of Turbo, The Ultimate Sin and Fight For The Rock, which pushed the envelope of metal in three different, related directions. It's not anywhere nearly as enjoyable as expatriate Mustaine's Peace Sells, which was technically brilliant and a whole barrel of fun too, or as dark as Possessed's sophomore effort, or Sepultura and Sodom's full-length debuts. It's not nearly as punk-as-fun as Nuclear Assault's first. Then I could throw in fifteen, if not fifty, other backwash Glam LPs that did nothing for the genre as far as influence goes, but are still a whole fuckload more enjoyable than this one.

Now dont get me wrong, I have no problem with Glam Metal, a subgenre that Triumph had a tremendous influence on, in fact it was a great decade for metal, if you were old enough to remember them for what they were. But when I seen bands like Iron Maiden, Whitesnake and Judas Priest doing the style it made me cringe. I expect these glam metal types of songs from artists like Bon Jovi or Poison or Ratt or Def Leppard or maybe even Aldo Nova, but not those aforementioned three. Seeing albums from superior bands like The Ultimate Sin by Ozzy, Turbo by Judas Priest, Somewhere In Time by Iron Maiden, I was getting discouraged that all metal bands would fall under that stigma.

So when I purchased The Sport Of Kings I had an understanding that two things were obvious:
First: The band would never be able to top Thunder Seven, trying would only result in absolute horror and,
Second: The band may be forced to try doing the same thing as the metal that was popular at the time.

I saw Triumph three times on their T7 tour and each time was better than the last, they were mind blowing every time, just like on all the other previous tours. With all of that build-up and hype I thought the next album would be great, and after bringing it home and listening to it I can describe it with one sentence.. "Oh, The Disappointment" and if I had to give it a rating it would be a 22%. I'm willing to punch a wall in frustration... what, you may ask led me to raise my expectations so?

The second track, when it's Promo Video was shown as an advert for the album, "This is the brand new Triumph video from their Sport Of Kings album called Somebody's Out There." So you can imagine my surprise when a rather wimpy keyboard section began the song, I was rather disgusted to say the least. But as soon as the song was midway through I knew it was something special, something great was coming.

But the raised expectations were actually the first two songs...Absolutely brilliant, godlike, amazing, these two songs could be the start of a complete masterpiece. The Crimson Idol, 2112, The Division Bell, The Dungeons Are Calling, Hanging in the Balance, etc... those are the kind of albums that are built on amazing songwriting such as this...

THE INSIDE:

1. Tears In The Rain - *****. Opening with a heavy bass line the guitar comes in and the tone is absolutely crushing, the riff repeats itself before taking off like a fist full of animosity. Once again Gil sings the opening track but unlike in the past it is not a stadium rock anthem, but more a bitter tale of hate spoken with strong sentiment. With the prominent keyboard parts (including one awesomely catchy riff that, if it were for guitar, would bear the mark of Iommi), are thrown around perfectly to give the song a great edge over the rest. Sometimes keyboards sound out of place in metal, but here they work well in a tandem since they are never overbearing and are just there to give the song that edge. The solo is riveting and has the kind of form we all grew to love, which leads perfectly back into the finale. Imagine I Live For The Weekend slowed down some and the thrash elements eliminated and what you have is a stop-and-go number full of tension. A machine-gun delivery that you wouldn't really expect from Triumph, and it works completely well. The best part is the 2:55 mark where the chorus is repeated and the reason is most people kill radio-friendly songs with an overuse of the chorus but here it was short enough not to drag down. Superb way to start off the album...

2. Somebody's Out There - *****. When I first heard the opening of this track I about cried, "this is not Triumph," I thought, it's too wimpy. So why the five star rating you may ask, cause it's simply one of the most brilliant love songs you'll ever hear. Most love songs or happy songs have that mind-numbing cheese quality about them, that makes you cringe when you hear them. The same love songs that you have turn off quickly when your 'manly' friends come into your room unexpectedly, and your hoping they think a song which credibility sounds like what you were just listening to. But not this song, this has all the right elements in all the places, it's pure bliss to the ears, and since that is the key part to music, it is nothing shy of a work of artistic brilliance. Never before had a song taken me from utter disgust to sheer pleasure so quickly. The chorus is very infectious, it gets in your head and heart and never leaves, you will be singing that chorus forever afterwards. This track is an inspiration to lonely hearts everywhere, I dare you to listen to it and not have your spirits lifted. Throw in that main fast guitar riff which is half Hallowed Be Thy Name, the surprising difficulty of it's main body, and then of course the endless harmonizing, and the fact that the song is so ridiculously catchy. I declare this one of the greatest Triumph songs ever, and a high-water mark for metal in general. The song is taken to the next level at the 3:05 mark as the chorus is continued but for some reason Rik's voice just really grabs me and tears me apart every time. When I first listened to the song when I brought it home I listened to the last minute over and over again, I was unable to tear myself away from the pure pleasure of Rik's voice. The only other time I did that this early in an album was on T7 for Rock Out Roll On.

I began thinking to myself I was foolish to think this album was going to be bad, it totally rocks so far. But then the album takes a precipitous, and most unfortunate decline. It isn't an instant death, it's more a Wile E. Coyote-like moment, where the next few songs are ALMOST as cool as the first two, and you think "oh, just a minute" and the moment will come back...

3. What Rules My Heart - ***. The main riff is reminiscent of a later Triumph song "Long Time Gone," though of course it's a gallop and we all know what that means. "Yes everybody, we listened to Judas Priest's Stained Class, just like every other band". The best part is where Gil sings "Mistreating you was such a crime, I know the hurt will heal in time. But that's a small consolation right now" and I don't know why, it just appeals to me, which shows how little this song has to offer. Songs do not always have to offer anything but just an enjoyable listen, but damn at least make them moments worth while. The chorus section is horrendous (What Rules My Heart repeated four times - where is this cheese catalougue that you ordered from, I'd possibly like to purchase some for my own consumption), but the gang choruses are cool, and overall the song is pretty decent...

4. If Only - ****. Next up, we have the "let's try the same trick twice" attempt of If Only, unfortunately - this is not Somebody's Out There, Part II. It's qualities come from being very melodic and emotional, a chance of reflection. The verses echo my thoughts tremendously, at least when I was nineteen and listened to this for the first time. The chorus is one of the best featured here, it's sensitive and tender in all the right places. So in short, it's not a bad song at all, but it is a ballad, and those are either completely dead on or just... missing something. This one is missing that something, and therefore it is good at best. However the improvising by Rik at the end is very powerful...

5. Hooked On You - *½. It's here when poor Coyote realizes his predicament, like when his plan to catch the roadrunner rails miserably and he spends the next few seconds suspended in mid air, fully vulnerable before plunging to his dusty death. This song is where all this begins because it's a cheesy stab at radio rock. First song was sung by Gil, second by Rik, third by Gil, fourth by Rik... Do you notice the repetition of trends?

So instead of another track with a solo vocal performance, MCA Records stepped in and made the band try what they achieved on Killing Time from Thunder Seven, which was to have both vocalists sing a duet. It worked on Killing Time because that song had purpose and meaning, but this track is almost utterly worthless. This sounds like a Bryan Adams song, with the complete lack of hooks, and the non-discernable chorus. Even the obligatory solo in the middle seems like an afterthought, lifted from the How to Write Songs pamphlet issued on the first day at A&R training camp. The main problem with this song is after the first ten seconds you know where it is going, it's painful to sit back and call Triumph...

6. Take A Stand - **½. This is what would happen if you slowed down Tears In The Rain by about 40 per cent, making it into a standard power metal song. Unfortunately, the vocals are borderline irritating (Ordinary Man, this is not), the riffage is pedestrian, and the song is rather repetitive. I forget who was the vocalist on this song (Rik Emmett himself?) but ... wow... it's hard to screw up shrieky vocals, but this is one of them. The Ralf Scheepers school of over-the-top over-loud-in-the-mix vocals. It's like they had the material for a great - nay, a legendary - EP but then chose to retread it. The song itself sounds a very small bit like any other radio-friendly song of the era, but isn't quite as cool. The solo IS Rik Emmett at work, but he's dangerously close to Yngwiesturbation...
You know a song is bad when a bland uninspired performance on A Night Of Triumph DVD is better than the studio. However it was funny to see Rik having to run across the stage to get back by his mic and not make it in time, so the band had to extend the solo. I figured after the previous disappointment that this would pick the album back up, everyone has a few clunkers right?...

7. Just One Night - ½. Now poor Wile E. is falling fast. This noise, can it even be called a song, is almost completely without value... the small bit that has some value is the riff at around 1.17, which is interesting for about two seconds. Otherwise, the song is pointless. What the hell is this wallowing, circular ***? It comes across as half assed because it contains soft sections for the sake of having soft sections. Of course, proper use of dynamics had been completely, totally invented by 1976... if Sabotage didn't have it, then Sad Wings Of Destiny certainly did, and anyone claiming to add something new to the idea was pretty much full of hot air. Maybe POP's "In The Night" can lay a small claim to things, a small claim to have added something. Just One Night adds nothing. That said, it does not even play the standard cards correctly - there are tons of songs that start off soft and then build up to a frenzied crescendo, and most of them are far more effective than this. See "Cool Down" for one that works extremely well. But of course, there is "Megalomania", and then there is this crap. And that's what this is - unmitigated crap, masquerading as "pop", but being plodding, boring, modern bullshit. This song has absolutely no balls whatsoever, and Triumph were about having BALLS. It's about riffs, it's about smashing a spike through the brains of the listener, making him/her/it perk up and die hard. It's about the slow, twisting zombie passages of Triumph of Death. It's about the flash and the colour and the violence of Chainsaw Charlie. It's about the constant multi directional bludgeon of From the Past Comes the Storms. It's CERTAINLY NOT about Moore moaning "Take me I'm yours..." like a thousand other ass rape victims to come. But, unfortunately, this is what the world caught onto. This is the illusion that destroyed reality, the feeble cry of patheticness in the night, that virally castrated a powerful genre. Because as Possessed and D.F.A. and up-and-coming bands like Death and Nocturnus were constantly playing loud, proud, and heavy and expanding the genre... a thousand other bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween were consistently waving the banner of Judas Fucking Priest...
As all of those bands demonstrated vibrancy and life, here was THIS virus, this awful plague of self-mocking stupidity, that slowly corrupted the whole thing from within. And people wonder what happened to metal? People wonder why years like 1993 came along, and why horrendous, backwards bands like Lamb of God and Damage Plan are now on the forefront of the scene? People WONDER - no, it was inevitable, that the mediocrity would rise and destroy everything in its path. All it took was for the metal scene to be inundated with this backwash crap, this horrendous assault that seems so soothing, so relaxing... so "it's OKAY if you suck, junior", so Kurt Cobain before Kurt Cobain himself. Look, this band sucks too, and look at the instant popularity they have. Horrible, absolutely worthless, I am surprised this was not sponsered by Disney or something. The chorus would be a lot better, given the more standard on-kilter riff, except the vocals are terrifying by now. Coyote's a smoldering ruin. This is still the second worst Triumph song ever, only beaten out by Rock You Down...

8. Embrujo - ***½. Embrujo is a bit of a spark of triumph awash in this sea of mediocrity. A multitude of styles that are thrown in a minute and a half, beginning with melodic one-noting. That climaxes into a nifty classical piece highly reminescent of A Minor Prelude. Then it goes into a flamenco number before finally settling down to a very soft piece of playing. The funny thing about this song is it is better than all but three other tracks on the album, despite it having no words. But it's main purpose was to begin the amazing track that follows...

9. Play With The Fire - *****. FINALLY! After the previous disheartening tracks comes this aggressive metal track about sex and desire. The verses are electric, passionate and seem cast forth from unholy writ. They drive you to the chorus where Rik sings in his spectacular tenor register, aided by a rightfully used pitch shifter. Each verse is better than the last as the story of the night continues, with the climax being reached in terms of lyrics. The amazing thing about the lyrics is they could be taken in so many ways, but no matter the subject they are delivered with such energy it astounds you. The solo rips apart every other one before it only to end with an extensive use of finger-tapping, then beginning with a drum roll we are off again for the climax that is as questionably cathartic as it is destructive. Rik's voice raises an octave ending with a note that would make even Rob Halford stand in amazement, how he is able to sing so passionately while keeping all the music in rhythmic perception is thrilling. This song sums up the entire album, one of the best bands ever forced against their will to do music they have no business doing and only once or twice getting to let out what they want. Easily the best song on the entire album...

10. Don't Love Anybody Else But Me - *. Back to the flop we go with this inexplicable track. I can't decide if this song is attempting to be a ballad, or what. The piano part sounds cheesy and forced, as opposed to the brilliance of Somebody's Out There. The intro has that horrendous "Tourrette's syndrome" vocal delivery where some of the lines are spoken off the pace of the underlying music (see "or I can beat my head against the wall," especially the first few words, which come in a bit too late compared to the music). Awful. The whole thing sounds like Billy Joel with distortion, and the vocals sound like they're not quite the right key. Then throw in the first riff, which is an inside-out version of Take A Stand - imagine that song being played by untuned instruments. There's a nifty power-metal break, but again, the whole note sequence is parodically out of tune. It's horrible when I hear a song that sounds similar to another in the general pace, completely fecal. Yet another ballad. Look, you guys met your ballad quota with the second track, so quit milking it. Especially when you can't capture the magic on the rest of the album. Repetitive chorus, and by this point Emmett sounds like he's being skinned alive, with his shrieks getting more and more pitiful. They do not match the vocals at all. The only thing that raises this song above the sickest depths of mediocrity is Rik's soloing. Like those Ozzy LP's with Randy, one cannot fault the lead guitar, just the vocals and the songwriting...

11. In The Middle Of The Night - **½. I began to think to myself when hearing this song start, this was horrible. But finally Rik's voice returns to the kind of form he hadn't exhibited since the sophomore track, however it's another ballad. Look, you guys met your ballad quota with the second track, so quit milking it. Especially when you can't capture the magic on the rest of the album. The lyrics were very honest and telling to that of people who think more with their emotions instead of logic. This song could have easily been a video since it has a strong emotional grip in it's delivery, and tender approach. It was this kind of insightfulness in the lyrics that made Triumph appeal so much to me, as the rest of the song deals with using your heart instead of your logic. Rushing into love instead of letting it come to you, and like the story portrayed here, it's always a sad tale. Decent way to end a disappointing record...

THE OUTSIDE:

- *½. Some 'enjoy' this album cover while some people hate the album cover, but most people who see it hate it, and I can agree. Where is Triumph's awesome logo and the insightful illustration? It's repeated by a group of cards, all kings(go figure) located in what can only be described as a skating ring. Maybe that is what the band, or should it be said the record company, was pushing this record. To the unintelligent minds of teenagers of the 1980's, if that is the case then it's a great cover. But either way to me I find it to be as dull as the album itself, and when such a cover or album comes from a band of Triumph's magnitude, it is particularly insulting...

OVERALL:

- *½. Enough of the slamming, let's focus on the good parts of the album, which is just three songs, and out of eleven is not a good number of odds at all. But that's pretty much it in the case of this album. A sore disappointment, a waste of money and time, and irreversible damaging to the once formidable reputation of Canada's Rock And Roll Machine music. Avoid this one at all costs unless you are absolutely extremely passionate about the aforementioned wave of music...

Man, if it weren't for the first few songs, I'd give an album about a terrifyingly low rating. Cut off tracks, one, two, four and nine, slap them on an EP, that would get an easy 85, and the rest... oh about a 22. It sounds like that horrendous Crimson Glory "comeback" LP with the over-the-top vocals and the lack of quality riffage. But, man oh man, the first two songs are stupendously brilliant. Download those two. Maybe track nine. Avoid the rest.

Just One Night wasnt even written by Triumph, its an Eric Martin song, which I think he did better...but thats beside the point. Every band had their ballads, I wouldn't say songs like More Than Words, Hole Hearted, Is This Love, or Silent Lucidity had balls...it doesnt make them bad songs though.

Whats wrong with bands like Damageplan(RIP Dime) and Lamb of God?  Its not necessarily my cup of tea, but there is at least some musical talent there.  I'd probably listen to that stuff if it werent for the vocals...and the double bass drum stuff gets a bit annoying and then a lot of the songs tend to sound the same.  But at least its not like alternative band that goes up on stage and plays the same chord for the whole song without any progressions lol.

The Take a Stand solo is really nothing like Yngwie...most of Yngwie's fast playing is alternate picking, Rik really doesnt do any of that, the fast runs are always full of legato.  I wouldnt call much of what Yngwie did from Rising Force to Odyssey "wankage" either.  The guy composed very well and still does I would say, but he just never got outside the box of his own ideas, much like EVH.  I wouldn't really compare Rik to any shredder because his fast runs are for the most part, all done with hammers and pulls.  He doesnt do any two hand tapping(mostly the one hand stuff), no sweep picking, not a lot of alternate or economy picking.  He really does play a lot like Ed in the way that when the fast runs happen its not a lot of pickwork.  I think I saw some two hand stuff at the end of Follow Your Heart on A Night of Triumph live and then again on I think Absolutely...perhaps the end of Drive Time, but I can't remember.  A guy I would compare Rik to is Warren DeMartini though.  Both of them are awesome composers and dont do a ton of really fast picking with a bunch of legato.

 

...Definatly not my favorite Triumph effort though haha

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Can't you feel the magic, feel it everywhere, Can't you hear the music, there's something in the air, There's a celebration, deep within a song, Celebrate this feeling, you know it can't be wrong

Two words for this review:

Verbose obsfucation. 

Riks review of the review.... More Later...

alliedforces:

Riks review of the review.... More Later...

 

 

Man, I can't stop laughing over your response alliedforces. Thanks , I needed that. Too funny.

"Ashley Dalby's Reviews Journal: Triumph - Sport Of Kings!" (1981)

 

Where does the 1981 in the above come in???  Sport of Kings was 1986.   Am I missing something here?

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"Debate the place of chivalry in a post-sexual revolution world all you like - holding the door's the only way to check out her ass." - Philalawyer

Slappy77:

"Ashley Dalby's Reviews Journal: Triumph - Sport Of Kings!" (1981)

Where does the 1981 in the above come in???  Sport of Kings was 1986.   Am I missing something here?

Ooops, thanks for pointing that out. Corrected!