Trauma Ray’s “Chameleon”: Album Review
Chameleons are fascinating creatures. They can grow from the size of a fingernail up to 27 inches and stretch their tongues to twice the length of their bodies. Then, of course, there’s the well-known fact that they have the ability to change colors. Most people learned at a young age that the animal did this to camouflage with its surroundings and disguise its body from predators. However, contrary to popular belief, other reasons for this include mate attraction, communication, and mood changes.
And as a chameleon would capture an insect with its incredibly long tongue, Trauma Ray subjugates the complexity and versatility of the reptile perfectly on their debut album, “Chameleon.”
“The theme is death. And a chameleon, like death, can shape-shift in and out our lives in different forms," said vocalist and guitarist Uriel Avila, driving home the connection between the title and what listeners should take away from it. And, although the chameleon is famously known for its ability to blend in, Trauma Ray’s “Chameleon” is well on its way to standing out and making a lot of noise in its debut.
Although they may have a greater appeal to a niche group of rock lovers, Trauma Ray melds elements from all across the board. Textured droning guitars, heavy thumping bass notes, and hard-hitting snares are omnipresent throughout the entire length of the project.
The album – and the band in general – is more likely to attract fans of the ‘90s rock band Hum or the former shoegaze outfit Whirr (circa early to mid-2010s). While Trauma Ray will fill a Whirr-sized gap, it should go without saying that anyone looking for another band’s sound should listen to those bands.
Trauma Ray brings a unique and fresh perspective on what shoegaze is and should be regarded and appreciated for their music, considering that fact. Whether you want to headbang and dance along to tracks like the pop-punk-inspired album openers “Ember” and “Torn” or introspectively float to another astral plane with the hauntingly veering beauty of the album’s second single, “Spectre,” “Chameleon” has something for everyone.
Trauma Ray’s story begins with the classic “two guys walk into a bar” scenario, except one of the guys (Avila) was running karaoke at the bar, and the other (guitarist Jonathan Perez) liked the music that the other guy was playing.
Coincidentally, they had both approached a mutual friend with the idea of forming a shoegaze band months before their initial meeting, Perez revealed in an interview with Audiotree. Avila had contacted Perez about starting a band not long after, but Perez had ignored the message, writing off Avila as a “kook.” Not long after, they acquired bassist Darren Baun, third guitarist Coleman Pruitt, and drummer Nicholas Bobotas, forming the solid and strong-going quintet.
The album runs approximately 49 minutes, which is roughly the length of time it would take to drive – with traffic – from the University of North Texas Union to Doc’s Records and Vintage in Fort Worth, a location in Trauma Ray’s hometown where they played in 2021, a few months after the release of their self-titled EP. Along with that project, the group has put out several singles and two EPs.
Trauma Ray announced “Chameleon,” their first full-length release, on Aug. 14, with the release of the lead single “Bishop,” an almost poppy ballad with an outro that takes any listener by surprise and on a downward spiral of noisy grudge that envelops you like a warm hug. The band described the track as containing “the biggest, baddest, saddest wall of sound” and that it did. The Korn-inspired “Bardo” as the third single came out on Oct. 10 before the release of the entire project on Oct. 25.
Additionally, the outro of “Bishop” is a sublime transition between the up-tempo of the first and the slower, heavier, spacey second half of the album. As a whole, it incorporates a liberal use of delay, reverb, and distortion to tackle the universally complex topic of dying and all the emotions that come with it.
“I grew up in a pretty religious setting,” Avila said about the lyrics to “Bishop” upon its release. “Sin, guilt, and penance have always been themes that have stuck with me since a very young age. The fear of hell and fire was instilled in me when I was in my most malleable state, and the words to this song tie to that period of my life.”
While the album possessed a plethora of standout tracks — “Breath,” “Elegy,” and “ISO” — the title track was unquestionably the most climatic and powerful song. It opens with distorted feedback and instantly catapults the listener into a ripping, complex, Hum-esque guitar riff only the three-guitar genius of Trauma Ray can achieve. Avila’s ethereal vocals about the foolishness of trying to hide from death, Baun’s grittily aggressive bass, and Bobotas’s heavy downbeats on his cymbals carry us into the chorus, where we learn that death can, in fact, still see us. The infectious outro riff is reminiscent of sing-song teasing and menacing laughter, exuding the utmost “mosh-ability.”
Within the stretch of the album are two strategically-placed instrumental interludes, “Drift” and “Flare,” that Perez described as “palate cleansers.” The closer, “U.S.D.D.O.S.,” could be expressed as a lullaby to an angel. The song alone is a cinematic experience, perfectly suitable for the falling action sequence of a film, where the protagonist finally faces reality and comes to terms with the truth. It yields the sentiment of the final stages of limbo and finally crossing over. There is no more unfinished business, thus making it a phenomenal ending to an outstanding album.
See photos from Trauma Ray’s show at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio on October 31, 2024, here.
Check out “Chameleon,” linked below!