TRiDENT are an exceptionally talented trio!

 

Following on from the success of my HANABIE blog post, I wanted to focus on some other lesser known, yet very talented bands and artists that deserve more recognition. I've scoured the internet for artists with fewer than 100k subscribers on their YouTube channels, Twitter following and those that don't have a lot of information about them online. For today's post, the focus will be on the all-female rock trio, TRiDENT! 

TRiDENT began their music career back in 2013. At that time they were known as Girls Rock Band Kakumei, and the founding members, Asaka, Junna, Lorah and Serina were all schoolmates. Under the Girls Rock Band Kakumei name, the trio released the album, Don't Stop in 2017 and 2 mini-albums, High-speed Magnum in 2018 and Updraft in 2019. Those albums were all released under the Matsuyama Senkai Iinkai label. Eventually, founding members Lorah and Junna both left the group with Junna leaving in 2020. Junna's departure was quite a shock as she left when the group had begun to pick up steam. A new drummer, Nagisa was brought in initially as a supporting member before it was decided that she fit in with the remaining duo enough to become a full time member. With the new lineup and the departure of Junna, it was announced that the trio had a new name, that name being TRiDENT. Under the name of TRiDENT, the trio switched record labels to Flying Dog Labels and since then have released 1 full length studio album, Advance Generation in 2021, along with 1 mini-album, D-X, in 2022. They also released a digital only mini-album in 2020, WE ARE THE WORLD and two albums of re-recorded material, known as Saikou Kizu. 

Asaka is the guitarist as well as the vocalist and is responsible for writing the lyrics. Her lyrics are often uplifting and have some great, positive messages. I always like to point out just how difficult it can be to both have to sing and play guitar at the same time, especially in fast paced, rock songs with complicated riffs. She has some tremendous solos in songs such as Discord which proves her talent with the guitar. 

Serina is also a tremendously talented bassist and her work in songs such as Ambivalent and Re:Ply absolutely slaps! Pun intended. Check out her bass solo in Distination, it's awesome.

For only being a trio, the group sure do have a fully, fleshed out, powerful sound. They can do a soft, melodic slow tempo such as in the final song from D-X, シグナル aka Signal, as well as a full on hard hitting, faster rock sound such as in Spoopy. They don't quite venture into being as heavy as HANABIE, Passcode or Broken by The Scream, but they don't have to. They've found their niche and what works really well for them. The fantastic production quality definitely helps.

I singled out Spoopy as a stand out track because it truly shows what the trio are capable of. There's the excellent, heavy hitting drumming from Nagisa which helps the fast tempo shine and helps her come out of Junna's shadow, as well as the stupendous guitar riff that really shows off Asaka's skill and technical excellence. Then there's the very expressive, emotive vocals full of character and life. Not to mention the trademark catchy chorus which they have perfected! 

Overall, TRiDENT are a very fundamentally sound trio, but I think that they should capitalise on the Spoopy sound as it's quite different and unique. That sound will help them stand out amongst the wealth of Japanese rock and metal talent. I'd also like them to work with Gaku Taura more as he's proven himself to be an exceptional producer.