NEVER SURRENDER

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I received this album on loan from my buddy as an extra with all of the early albums I had asked him for to review Triumph for the PA. I had dropped Triumph ( and a lot of 70's survivors I must admit) by this time in the 80's as totally disgusted by the rock scenes , I went on to explore jazz , jazz-rock , psych rock folk-rock of the previous decades, that I had been too young to discover.

The thing that strikes me on this album (I only heard two tracks ever before) is that they still sound a bit like Triumph but they also sound like FM rock of the times, namely Journey , Styx, REO SpeedW etc.. Even the obligatory acoustic track, is shorter by a minute than usual and serves as intro to the metallic All The Way. Some tracks drag on (Battle Cry) while others are insufferable right from the start (Lights go Down and Writing On The Wall) and their "epic" (if you can call it that) title track with its intro is downright deceiving for the old fan. But it is in term with the rest of the album: compared to their early albums, ideas are rarer and therefore stretched to last a whole song where previously you could stick four of them into a filler track. If I seem severe with Triumph, burning what I have loved before, I can only answer your angry remarks by telling you how the once mighty have fallen! I will however be king enough to round off my rating to the upper unit/star.

I'm no fan of Triumph, but I've heard most of their albums, and have most of them here at home (I deal vinyl on eBay, so I have an "extended" library of sorts). They're entirely below-average. I also question their inclusion on this site when a band like Blue Oyster Cult are infinitely more qualified. But since I supported the inclusion of Radiohead here, I guess it's all in the ear of the beholder.

Behold: radio rock that never gets too heavy or too wimpy, played by musicians with admittedly remarkable talents, especially drummer Gil Moore and Rik Emmett. This is Triumph, and 'Never Surrender' sees them toeing the line between their metal, AOR and hardrock leanings, never veering too far one way or the other. The album always feels too safe, stiff and a bit bland.

Their heavier material reminds me somewhat of Styx at their heaviest (and it's a fact: Styx has more heavy songs than ballads...research it, it's true!). "Writing On The Wall" and "Battle Cry", in particular, but they lack the character and spark Styx injected into their music (pre-'Cornerstone', that is). The only song I would ever want to hear again is "Never Surrender", a fairly dramatic composition that splits the difference between 'Signals'-era Rush, 'Pieces Of Eight'-era Styx and early-'80s Blue Oyster Cult. Good stuff. The rest of the material is too middle-ground for my tastes, and, as with just about all the Triumph albums, I feel like they're too conservative for prog tastes, not heavy enough for metal fans, too edgy for AOR fans, and not living up to the musicians' potential. I have a tiny bit of respect for this band and this album, which is probably their most well-rounded and accomplished, but still, who needs 'em when we have Rush and Blue Oyster Cult?

Another classic from the golden age of Triumph. This one came out on the heels of Allied Forces, and included three hit singles on the 1983 Mainstream Rock charts in North America (note the genre of these hits – more on tat later).

The album cover is impressive enough – a cartoonish drawing of a warrior’s face mask sprouting what is apparently a profile of a phoenix above the eyes. This was contributed by Canadian artist Ken Steacy, better known for his comic book work like Orb and Johnny Quest. Today I had occasion to actually get past the cover and play this one for the first time in twenty years.

The second most striking attribute after the cover is the lyrics on the back of the record sleeve. Some choice gems here – many words to live by from the boys up north:

“where there’s a will there’s a way; every dog will have his day”.

“you better watch out, you better look around, ‘cause what goes up is gonna’ come down”

“writing on the wall – stand up and be counted; all for one and one for all”

“see tomorrow coming, shake the hand of fate. Mirror, mirror on the wall – is it all too late”

“the loser pays and the strong survive, so take your shot – give it all you can”

“I have no choice – I answer the call; I can see it, and I believe it – there is wisdom in the writing on the wall”

and no shortage of tender moments either:

“the path of least resistance has led me right to you”

“oh sweet love, you wore such a disguise: so neat love, the way I fell for your lies”

The music is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the Triumph trio – Rik Emmett shredding his way through a couple of chords per song, off-key shrieking, and Levine alternating between his one-two bass rhythm and nondescript keyboard work. Really, Gil Moore is a decent drummer, and he probably deserves better than this.

“Never Surrender” fits the previous description, not much more to add. “When the Lights go Down” is Triumph’s version of REO Speedwagon’s much better “Back on the Road Again”, with Emmett reaching new heights of toneless singing. “Too Much Thinking”, which kinds of describes the song-writing approach of this band, carries the message that we’re all doomed and are going to die.

There’s an attempt at a soldier tribute with “Battle Cry”, then more shrieking and shredding on “All the Way”.

Apparently the band is predicting the fate of this album with “The Writing on the Wall”, and finally the album ends with the inexplicably hit single “A World of Fantasy”, a confused love song for yet another woman Emmett is both drawn to and repulsed by. With any luck she got away.

So ends another in a too long line of Triumph musical forays. I will say that with the possible exception of Thunder Seven, this is probably their finest work.

One star.

peace

Well at least I find the bass guitar work at the opening track "Too Much Thinking" is good. The music is something similar with Germany's early Scorpions (when Uli John Roth was still in the band). This opening track rocks! It's suitable to be as album opener as the rhythm section is energetic and guitar solos are quite substantial compared to previous albums of Triumph. "A World of Fantasy" (5:03) is another blues-based music from Triumph with good interlude. "Battle Cry" is also good song from this album. When the album reaches ""Overture (Procession)" (1:54) my expectation of "prog" elements grows but when it is followed with "Never Surrender" (6:40), it's just another straight hard rock music. Nothing is different, even though it's a good song. Keep on rockin' ..!

Thinking man's Hard Rock without too much thinking

Never Surrender is possibly Triumph's most varied yet consistent and perhaps also their most progressive album overall. Like all of Triumph's works, this is still primarily a Hard Rock album, but this time they have chosen a slightly more sophisticated approach than on most of their other albums. The band's most undemanding and generic compositions are, thankfully, not to be found on this album (but, admittedly, their most progressive song is also not here). Even in the lyrics they manage to stay away from the worst Rock 'N' Roll standards and clichés.

The album starts with Too Much Thinking which is a good melodic Hard Rock song that runs for five and a half minutes. They use this space to include some nice guitar work. Triumph can never be accused of too much thinking, but they sure know how to play their instruments. With World Of Fantasy the tempo is slowed down a bit and they deliver here dynamic song with a strong vocal performance. A Minor Prelude is a classically inspired acoustic guitar piece of the kind that has become standard on the band's albums. Being a "prelude" this, of course, leads straight into the next song, All The Way, which is the album's most straightforward rocker and easily the least interesting song here. The chorus is quite tedious both musically and lyrically ? a very typical Triumph Hard Rock number. Battle Cry is a much better song that alternates between slower and more intense passages. This will hardly blow the Prog fan away, but it is a good song in my book.

Next up is an "overture" that introduces the title track. While hardly remarkable, this Overture surely raises the expectations for the rest of the album, but anyone expecting a Prog epic will be brought down to earth with Never Surrender. Despite a the instrumental middle section, it is basically another sophisticated melodic Hard Rock song, similar in style and quality to Too Much Thinking and World Of Fantasy - good, but hardly something to write home about. When The Light Go Down is worse! It has a short, folksy acoustic intro and outro that evokes Led Zeppelin and overall it is a pretty unexciting bluesy Hard Rock number in the style of that band. As the album closer is a short, relaxing, bluesy instrumental guitar piece, the album's last proper song is Writing On The Wall which is, again, a melodic up tempo rocker.

Three stars might be seen as a rather generous rating for this album, but it is nonetheless the rating I will give as this is one of Triumph's better albums. Good, but by no means essential.