Human Era

『Human Era』は、TRIXTERが2015年6月にフロンティアーズから発表した第4作だ。制作の体制は前作を踏襲し、スティーヴ・ブラウンの自宅スタジオで基本トラックを録り、アリゾナのピート・ローランが歌を送り返す。ブラウンは本作について、25年以上レコードを作ってきてバンドは良くなり続けている、これまでで最高の一枚だと言い切った。編成は1983年の結成時から変わらず、4枚のスタジオ作すべてを同じ4人で作り上げたことになる。派手な実験はない。良い曲を良い音で鳴らすことに徹した一枚だ。 “Rockin' to the Edge of the Night”の硬いドラムとリフが幕を開け、“Crash That Party”が続く。ツーバスとギターの応酬を持つ“For You”は、TRIXTERにこんな曲はなかったとブラウン自身が挙げた一曲で、詞はファンへ向けられている。“Midnight in Your Eyes”にはデフ・レパード的な歌の重ね方があり、“All Night Long”は疾走の末に長いソロを迎える。管を加えた“Soul of a Lovin' Man”を経て、表題曲は低く抑えた歌で全11曲を閉じる。標準盤はここまでで、“Always a Victim”のアコースティック版などはiTunes限定の特典だった。

Human Era, released by Frontiers in June 2015, is the fourth album. The method follows the last one: basic tracks at Steve Brown's home studio, with Pete Loran sending his vocals back from Arizona. Brown said flatly that after more than twenty-five years of making records the band keeps getting better, and that this was the best one they had made. The line-up has not changed since 1983, which means all four studio albums were built by the same four people. There is no showy experiment here — it commits to sounding good songs in good sound. Hard drums and a riff open “Rockin' to the Edge of the Night,” and “Crash That Party” follows. “For You,” with its double bass drums and guitar exchanges, is the track Brown singled out as something Trixter had never done, and the words are aimed at the fans. “Midnight in Your Eyes” stacks vocals in a Def Leppard manner, and “All Night Long” races into a long solo. Past “Soul of a Lovin' Man,” with horns added, the title track closes the eleven on a low, restrained vocal. That is the standard edition; the acoustic “Always a Victim” and others were iTunes-only extras.