Label: Aquatic Lab
Rating: 3.5/5
Hoping to repeat for dubstep what Pendulum did for drum & bass, Truth are another dance act from Down Under about to make waves in the UK, only this time they hail from New Zealand rather than Australia. The deep riddims of Truth's debt Puppets will have your bass speakers shaking your walls if the volume's turned up even half way so with half-step stompers and thick layers of sound enlightened by enchanted vocals, it's an accomplished effort.
Inspired by the sounds of Mala from Digital Mystikz, it's no surprise that Truth's Andre Ferndandez, Tristan Roake and Julian Van Uden found themselves producing such fine tunes. They'd already been making music for 10 years when Mala's dubstep erupted through their speakers - and they've taken that as the standard all their music should follow. Not one track skips by without some bassline damage and there's much to revel in the grinding nature of "Juno" and "Master of the Stars". They evoke a sinister horror movie soundtrack feel on "Legion" which even nods towards The Future Sound of London's classic "Papua New Guinea". There's plenty of big wobbly tunes too, especially the oddly-titled "Wicked Vibe Broccoli" and "Invaded".
Truth evoke a sinister horror movie soundtrack feel on "Legion".
The only element that lets Truth down and prevents this from being the non-stop dancefloor assault that helped Pendulum win over drum & bass audiences with Hold Your Colour before they revealed their real dreams of being a rock band is for all their slick production, they overfill Puppets with lesser beat artillery between the big guns. "Dead Silence" is a tame reworking of "Legion" yet comes before the superior tune and "Under Current" slips by without rocking any boats. It's a minor quibble only leaving minor gaps in the powerful sounds Truth emit, though it lessens the impact of the album as a whole. As their sound evolves they are sure to give us back-to-back sub-oriented goodness to be turned up loud.