Trapt’s self titled album, released in 2002, owes almost all its fame to Headstrong, a massive hit on American rock radio and an emblematic track of the post grunge tinged with nu metal of the early two thousands. The Californian band cultivates an accessible formula here, sturdy riffs and chanted choruses, built for a wide audience.
Beyond the single, the record strings together honest songs like Still Frame, without ever straying from a heavily marked framework. Chris Taylor Brown’s voice carries the whole thing with conviction, but the writing lacks daring and surprise, staying captive to the recipes of its time. Trapt remains a representative witness of that mainstream heavy rock, effective on the surface, yet whose artistic reach stays limited beyond its anthem.
