ROCK AND ROLL MACHINE

Like most of the Triumph's albums, this one still remains more "sophisticated straightforward hard rock"-oriented than progressive related. There are however some progressive related parts, like for instance on the "The city" track: "War March" is partly a reprise of King Crimson's "Devil's triangle". "El Duende Agonizante" shows how Rik Emmett is a talented musician: this lively elaborated flamenco track is very surprising coming from a hard rock guitarist. "Minstrel's Lament" is a very melancholic song, like Triumph used to play on the following albums: there is also a short bit that sounds like on the first Iron Maiden album, especially "Phantom of the opera".

Some of the tracks, like the album title suggests, sound hard rock'n roll. On the "rock'n roll machine" track, the LONG & Van Halen-esque guitar solo is VERY weird and funny: it is one of the most progressive electric guitar solo I have ever heard! Impressive! The keyboards are rather floating in the background, and there are some very good progressive mellotron arrangements. Emmet often uses a good acoustic guitar as a complement.