Craig Hartranft has reviewed Human Wheel and gave it 4.5 out of 5 points.
Here’s some quotes:
“…with the title track, Them or Us, and You Can Only Lose presenting smashing arrangements which will have prog fans simultaneously smiling and scratching their heads.”
“Human Wheel is pure prog magic from some very talented fellows. Very recommended.”
Read the complete review over here:
http://www.dangerdog.com/reviews_2009/trusties-human-wheel-review.php
“…It’s refreshing to actually hear the bass player and the drummer excels at tricky rhythms and patterns….”
“…Human Wheel contains many highlights but you need to check out the melodically delicious “Radiobeings” with its irresistible chorus, tasty guitar riffs and lead guitar that would make your fingers burn. Just as good is the keyboard laden “Autopilot” that probably has the nicest melody on the CD. “Freefall” combines the crunch of metal with tricky drum patterns and bass guitar that absolutely rips…”
…Trusties are a talented band and one that any fan of intelligent music needs to hear. If you like bands such as Saga, ACT and Rush, give Human Wheel a spin and hear what all the fuss is about.
Read the whole review at www.progressiveears.com !
“…What we get to hear is musically of a very high level. This is excellent Progressive Rock that does sound a lot like RUSH, yet still with an own identity, due to the vocalwork of singer MATTI YLILAURI and also some different approaches in the instrumental sections…”
“…Their new CD ‘Human Wheel’ is a must-have for any Progrockfan, so go check it out at: http://www.puucd.com and www.myspace.com/trusties.”
There are more music samples and pics on our MySpace site: www.myspace.com/trusties .
If you are in Facebook go ahead and join our growing list of fans:
Kalevi Heino from Imperiumi.net seems to have enjoyed spinning the Human Wheel quite a bit. If you’ve been exposed to the secrets of Finnish language, you can follow the link below to read the whole review yourself.
http://www.imperiumi.net/index.php?act=albums&id=9316
Composition: Veijalainen, Oikarinen, Ylilauri, Ervelius, Sutinen
Lyrics: Ylilauri, Veijalainen
Track details:
lead vocals: Matti
drums: Janne
bass: Ville
guitars: Oikku
intro & outro theme guitars: Suti
keys: Ville
screams (in the night): Janne
angry mob: Ville, Oikku, Janne, Matti, …?
backing vocals: Matti
Ville:
This track was partly written during the arrangement and rehearsal sessions, so the whole band is credited, although majority of the material came from myself. It was a very rewarding although laborious process, that really helped define the sound of the band. Suiting the title of the song, there is lots of recycled material especially from the ‘Growing Smaller’ album. This doesn’t mean it is easy to identify those bits, however.
The limping riff, that provides the background for the verses, was the starting point for the song. The nick name for the song is ‘Bouncy’ or ‘Pomppiva poni’ (galloping pony) as a result of the bouncy ride it gives to the listener. As often happens, first I got the idea of the rhythm, then added the notes with piano, and finally Marko played it on guitar for the record. Later I realized that the riff resembles my older riff on the ‘His Blue Sky’ track. This association helped me create the melody line and chords for the intro and outro. The melody was first sang on top of the limping riff, but was later replaced with Janne’s and Marko’s idea of the thrash-metal accompaniment. Other than that, it was Matti who mainly provided the vocal melodies and most of the lyrics too.
Years ago I wrote quite a massive instrumental collage out of the material of the GS album, made a demo out of it, and then accidently destroyed it without any back-up. So I decided to forget all about it, but apparently coudn’t wipe it out entirely from my mind, as part of the material, although highly modified, ended up as the basis for the instrumental fusion-laden middle section. These themes can be heard in the Human Wheel track too.
Marko suggested the variation to the guitar melody, which was played right after the verses. The variation resulted in the melancholic and bluesy middle part. It was Suti who suggested the chords for the part, and he also provided inspiration for many harmonic ideas elsewhere.
Finally there’s a reference to the first tracks of the WJWTRTW album right after the bluesy part. Reinvention… reinvention … reinvention…
Oikku:
I remember when we were playing the song in rehearsals and we only had the A and B sections down. At one point when the music stopped I started playing the B-theme in a slower tempo just for laughs, “Die-daa-dat-daa-daaaa…” milking every note and imagining a tango-rhythm under it. Instead of tango, guys started playing something very close to what you hear on the record in the melancholic and bluesy middle part.
Many of the key parts in our songs get nicknames like “Evanescence”, “Pekka Pohjola”, “Zappa” and “Housunousu” so that we can refer to them when we talk about the arrangements. This particular bit got dubbed the “Gary Moore -section”. It’s such an emotive part that during guitar tracking I just had to add a tiny Blackmore-reference to it.
Composition: Oikarinen, Ylilauri
Lyrics: Ylilauri, Oikarinen
Track details:
lead vocals: Matti
drums: Janne
fretless bass: Ville
lead guitar (left): Oikku
clean guitar (right): Suti
clean guitar in the instrumental break after the solo (center): Oikku
clean guitar in the outro (center): Oikku
solo: Oikku
keys: Oikku
backing vocals: Oikku, Ville
Oikku:
There’s some reuse of themes going on here. The zappaesque part after the solo and the outro are both actually whacked versions of the chorus. I wanted to have a simple two chord solo section to improvise over but of course it ended up having a 15/16 time signature so byebye easy improv…
Ville:
Matti’s vocal track was the first thing recorded for the album. It’s actually one of his best performances of all times IMO. Maybe because there were no disturbing instruments recorded yet… he he ?
Unlike earlier albums, this time we recorded the instruments mainly in the normal order: drums first, then bass followed by the guitars. Lead vocals were just about the only exception to that.
Composition & Lyrics: Veijalainen
Track details:
lead vocals: Matti
drums: Janne
bass: Ville
lead guitar: Oikku
clean guitar (right): Suti
crunch guitar in chorus (right): Suti
keys: Oikku
backing vocals: Ville, Oikku
Ville:
The song started out from a rhythmic idea, which I then developed into a piano riff, the one that opens the song. The main guitar part is actually almost entirely based on the piano demo that I made for the song.
There’s an acoustic arrangement for the song also, with just piano, acoustic guitar and vocals.
Oikku:
This is the straight rock-out song on the album. We’re playing so much 7/4 time signature these days that for us seven is straight and 4/4 is tricky. Sometimes in rehearsals we’re struggling with a piece and somebody asks “why is this section so damn difficult?”. Often the answer is “it’s in four man!” 🙂
Learning to play the piano parts on guitar was very challenging. I liked the chord voicings on the piano demo so much that I did not want to dilute the effect by playing more guitaristic chords. Because this is such a rocking song, I wanted to keep things simple and play just one lead guitar track straight through à la Van Halen – no doubling or other trickery.
Composition: Veijalainen, Oikarinen
Track details:
keys: Ville
Ville:
This is the second instrumental collage on the album. Actually there was material for a third one also, but it didn’t find its place somehow, and was not recorded at all. That’s why there are only 12 tracks on the CD, unlike its two predecessors, which have the correct amount of 13.
Trusties 