Amazon.co.uk Review
Liberation, the seventh album from post-rock futurists Trans Am confirms that they're holding firm to their Kraftwerkian vow to the glory of technological progress. What's more, it suggests that the dark future beyond the horizon of this Washington DC trio's stark, silicon soundscapes looms ever nearer. Built on a foundation of chilly Germanic rock-opera synths and chugging Sabbath-style metal dynamics, tracks such as "Outmoder" and "Total Information Awareness" eschew any of the light electro-pop influences that crept into 2002's
TA in favour of extended passages of cranium-rattling heavy riffage, frantic percussion and inhuman electronic gloom.
Liberation isn't a laugh riot: where earlier LPs betrayed a certain tongue-in-cheek frivolity in their more flamboyant passages, here, any ironic humour has been purged to make space for a sharp satirical edge captured best on "Uninvited Guest"--a Chris Morris-style cut-and-paste rewiring of a George W Bush speech that sees the American President preaching doom and destruction from his pulpit. At times, Liberation is a jarring, arresting listen but too often, Trans Am sound repressed where they should be buoyant, defiant and dancing the dark night away. --Louis Pattison