J'ai surmonté un traumatisme

Trauma is I Prevail's second album, and for a band to name their record after mental health is no exaggeration, this one was written from the heart of distress.

I Prevail quickly emerged, thanks to a viral acoustic cover of Blank Space that landed them a contract. Their debut album, Lifelines, got them radio play but also got them typecast as generic, a metalcore band playing it safe. Then singer Brian Burkheiser developed a polyp on his vocal cords that canceled their 2017 tour and plunged him into a full-blown depression, not an operatic one. Trauma, released in 2019, is the sound of a band refusing to fall back on what made them famous, pushing in both directions at once, more pop where they want a catchy chorus and heavier where they want to hurt.

Bow Down opens the album like a challenge, with heavy riffs and a chorus designed for sing-alongs, while Rise Above It invites rapper Justin Stone for a detour that doesn't seem like a publicity stunt. Every Time You Leave pairs Burkheiser with singer Delaney Jane on the album's most wounded chorus, and Let Me Be Sad does something rare for this genre, it wallows in sadness instead of trying to fix it.

Trauma is proof that the name I Prevail now means more than viral recovery.

LIST OF TITLES:

Side A:

1. Bow Down (4:03)
2. Paranoid (2:25)
3. Every Time You Leave (3:37)
4. Rise Above It (3:04)
5. Breaking Down (3:26)
6. DOA (3:16)

Side B:

1. Gasoline (2:34)
2. Hurricane (3:43)
3. Let Me Be Sad (3:34)
4. Low (2:45)
5. Goodbye (Interlude) (3:04)
6. Deadweight (3:04)
7. I Don't Belong Here (3:42)