Triumph
Allied Forces

THE REVIEW

The Triumph, key figures of a school often underestimated or perhaps overshadowed by its American counterpart, the Canadian one, along with Rush represent the highest peaks in the hard rock and non-rock environment of the North American country. Active since the early '70s, their musical blend consists of impactful Hard Rock, in the early albums tinged with progressive and pure and simple AOR tracks. In this "Allied Forces," considered the band's masterpiece, besides the aforementioned styles, you can perceive Heavy Metal influences and considering the time, we are in 1981, it couldn't be otherwise for bands playing these genres.

The first track "Fool For You Love" synthesizes what has been said so far through the use of heavy guitar riffs, a clear and incisive voice that sometimes takes on harsher tones, and leads into an ear-catching and melodic refrain; also worth noting is Emmett's excellent solo. Another song that embodies the group's tenets, blending them together to create an engaging carefree effect, is "Magic Power", the hit of the album, in which refined initial pop, led by voice and strings, coexists through continuous melodic ups and downs, then revisited in a heavier key with the use of the electric guitar in the chorus, which will be the key to understanding a track that in its concluding part captures a carefree AOR with easy commercial appeal, perhaps the only mistake of the album, but after all, if their intent was to include a piece to climb the charts, they succeeded more than decently. Leaving aside "Air Raid", a minute and fifteen seconds relatively useless aiming to imitate air raids, we reach "Allied Forces", the title track. The sound changes completely; it faces a pure Hard Rock gallop in seventies style with more than evident Heavy Metal nuances, especially in the finale, enchanting, magical, twisted, and chilling the central solo by Emmett, which lays out the red carpet for the last frightening, chaotic minute. The sounds increase their intensity, their power, everything seems to fall into a vortex of madness, initially contained, then increasingly extreme, invasive, exploding in Moore's schizophrenic screams, also pervaded by sonic madness. An extraordinary, nuanced track, it shifts from the vocalist's irreverence hidden in peaks and screams as in calmer parts, to the immeasurable virtuosity of Emmett, all suspended on the thin line separating Hard Rock from Heavy Metal. Also fundamental for understanding the album, but especially the group is "Hot Time (In This City Tonight)". In this song more than in any other within the work, the topic of the perennial conflict between the two aforementioned genres is revisited, if in some instances (the sung part), the balance shifts towards Heavy, in others (the solos) there is the whole Hard soul, yet beyond these (useless) stylistic confines, the track is articulated very nicely with a relentless drumming supporting the voice, leaving space for various virtuosity that embellish the composition with a touch of magic. At this point, two particular semi-suites stand before us, the first "Fight The Good Fight" essentially hinges on light Hard Rock, sometimes laden with melancholic atmospheres conveyed by Moore's decisive pleas and Emmett's solo which infuses pathos, giving the track an important value within the album.
The second "Ordinary Man", seven minutes and 20, is to be divided into two entirely distinct sections, the first 3 minutes capture a refined ballad introduced by a harmonic chorus and conducted through the voice-acoustic guitar duo in an enchanting, almost lyrical atmosphere. After 3 minutes, the riffs ignite drawing a heavy sound and duetting in tandem with Levine's drums, the sung part at times twists, scratches, but always tries to maintain, even while massively raising the decibels, the initial lyrical style, essentially during the refrain. Finally, Emmett's indispensable solo scales. A stunning track, all the trio's members give the best of themselves resulting, without a doubt, in the masterpiece of the album. It concludes with "Petite Etude", a minute and 15 seconds of enchanting guitar arpeggio and "Say Good Bye", AOR, to bid farewell to a great, but little-known, work.