Shazy Hade Triumph Returns Again LP
Ah wow, another “long-lost album” by a band that I presume has been largely forgotten by whoever the folks that knew them in the first place might be. This one was recorded sometime around 2008 and was (most interestingly) thought to have been destroyed in an unannounced bulldozing of the studio that housed the master tapes. I take that as a sign that these tunes were never meant to be released. But, lo and behold, a sole copy emerged from the wreckage, and here in 2024 we are given the chance to marvel at the album that fate couldn’t kill. Perhaps for some this will fulfill an indie rock prophecy of mythical status. My impression is that myths rarely hold up to the bright light of reality, and this collection of songs belongs on a busted tape under a pile of rubble. Triumph Returns Again is boilerplate jingle-jangle indie pop, graced with whiny, grating, off-key vocals. It’s pretty excruciating stuff. In a day and age when there are so many new and exciting bands pushing the frontiers of music, why waste your time on something the forces of nature were clearly trying to eviscerate?