-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Trauma Ray
ALBUM...: Chameleon
GENRE...: Indie
STYLE...: Shoegaze, Grunge, Post Rock, Alternative Rock, Noise Rock
STYLE...: Emo, Alternative Metal, Doomgaze, Post-Hardcore, Nu-Metal
YEAR....: 2024
LABEL...: Dais
COUNTRY.: USA
PLACE...: Fort Worth, TX
FORMED..: 2018
ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V 0
BITRATE.: 279 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 12
SIZE....: 96.60 MB
URL..: https://www.facebook.com/traumaray
https://www.daisrecords.com/collections/trauma-ray
https://traumaray.bandcamp.com/album/chameleon
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/trauma-ray/chameleon
https://boolintunes.com/reviews/album-review-trauma-ray-chameleon
https://www.reddit.com/r/shoegaze/comments/1gbfe5l/trauma_ray_chameleon_discussion_thread
https://louderthanwar.com/trauma-ray-chamaleon-album-review
https://www.fwweekly.com/2024/10/23/changing-trauma-ray
https://www.bandwerkmusic.com/trauma-ray-bandpage
- TRACKLIST
1 Ember 4:17
2 Torn 3:36
3 Chameleon 3:12
4 Bardo 3:24
5 Bishop 3:37
6 Elegy 5:40
7 Drift 2:40
8 Breath 4:17
9 Spectre 3:53
10 Flare 1:11
11 ISO 5:32
12 U.S.D.D.O.S. 7:16
Total Playtime: 48:35
NOTICE: Track 8 title is incorrect on discogs: Correct is "Breath" even
though the "t" might seem to look like a "c" on the cover.
Track 11 title is incorrect on discogs: Correct is "ISO" even
though the "I" might seem to look like an "F" on the cover.
https://floodmagazine.com/179052/trauma-ray-chameleon-track-by-track
https://traumaray.bandcamp.com/album/chameleon
*
Since first bonding over Slowdive at a Texas karaoke bar six years ago,
musicians Uriel Avila and Jonathan Perez have grown trauma ray into Fort
Worth s foremost flag bearer of crushing shoegaze. A five-piece rounded out
by bassist Darren Baun, drummer Nicholas Bobotas, and guitarist Coleman
Pruitt, the band s debut album, 'Chameleon,' captures their evolving sound at
an apex of majestic devastation. A fusion of downer hooks, gauzy melancholia,
and bulldozer riffs, the album heaves and crashes across 50 minutes of
stacked amplifier alchemy. Lyrically the songs trace similarly lofty and
brooding terrain; Avila says "The theme is death. And a chameleon, like
death, can shape-shift in and out our lives in different forms."
Chameleon opens with "Ember," dreamy and distant, alternately anthemic and
apocalyptic, defeated and deafening. Lead single "Bishop" perfectly
encapsulates trauma ray s depth and dimension, ripping out of the gate with
the biggest, baddest, saddest wall of sound. Lyrics about being burnt at
the stake and "tossed in the flame" float above a stop-start assault of
precision distortion, eventually expanding into a lush, heavy, sorrowful end
coda. "Spectre" is a mysterious, introspective dirge, envisioned as a
"mellow, slowcore, Duster-thing," all feeling and heavy fuzz chords (with no
lead guitar). Avila wrote it, "to be a hymnal" from the perspective of
someone who won't let go - a ghost, an ex, a shadow self.
Although the album is rich with subtleties, graceful lulls, and "breaths of
air," the band s three guitar attack is its defining force, a power flexed to
its peak on "Bardo." Perez s intentions were blunt: "I wanted to write a riff
that was hard as fuck." The result is alternately mean and eerie, veering
between noisy one string bends and surging headbang, mapping a middle ground
between Unwound and early-Deftones. One of trauma ray s greatest gifts is
their ability to make doomy, sledgehammer heaviness sound like an earworm,
without production tricks or gimmicks: "Riff, verse, chorus, three guitar
parts that s all you need." This quality is particularly apparent on the
title track, a churning slab of amplifier worship, swirling chords, and
heavenly, defeated vocals about not belonging, shape-shifting, and death ("A
twisted face / Void of attention / An empty space / In your reflection").
"U.S.D.D.O.S" closes the album, swaying across seven minutes of grey skied
guitar and haunted voice, subtly thickening as it deepens. Feedback and
shrapnel gradually begin raining down, like a satellite disintegrating in the
atmosphere. Titled as an acronym after a poem by Chilean writer Roberto
Bola o that loosely translates to "a dream within a dream," the melody
softens, smears, and then disappears, slowly swallowed by the gravity of
eternal descent. 'Chameleon' is a masterpiece of craft, balance, melody,
lyricism, and gravity, flexing a fresh vision of loud-quiet-loud
architectures and the vertigo depths of blasted harmonics. From Slowdive to
Nothing, to Hum and beyond, the band absorb and expand on their influences
into a rare and dedicated alchemy. trauma ray's cinematic tempest is a
gathering storm only just taking flight.
*
Fort Worth shoegaze quintet Trauma Ray finally returns with their first
full-length album on Dais Records, Chameleon, which saw its release on
October 25, 2024. This debut LP is made of 12 tracks running for 48 minutes.
Chameleon epitomizes the sense of heavy shoegaze with strong underlines from
Deftones and TAGABOW, combined with the introspective flair of Sunny Day Real
Estate and the haunting depth of A Perfect Circle. Trauma Ray consists of Uri
Avila on guitar/vocals, John Perez on guitar, Cole Pruitt on guitar, Darren
Baun on bass, and Nick Bobotas on drums, who all make formidable
contributions to the soundscape together. "Ember" opens up the album with a
dark, hooky riff that brings the listener into a reflective heavy vibe that
initiates an atmospheric journey. The second track is "Torn", an aggressive
rhythm fully fit for live energy and bonded through relentless drumming and
thickened walls of sound. The title track "Chameleon" presents this band most
emotively. Avila's vocals reveal raw vulnerability, screaming "I can still
see you" over crashing cymbals and guitars in a heartfelt nod to bands like
Blue Smiley and Duster.
Early singles "Bardo" and "Bishop" show Avila's evocative voice and his
trauma-laden lyrics, rightly so as they are fan favorites. Each note embodies
the Trauma Ray ethos of mournful introspection fused with explosive,
immersive instrumental sound designed to be as intense live as it is on the
record. "Elegy" introduces a slower tempo, but just as listeners are lulled,
Perez and Pruitt bring back the distorted harmonics that define the band's
take on shoegaze.
On "Drift," the album turns toward pure instrumental ambiance. Perez aptly
described it as "a song for an elevator ride into space," a moody, almost
weightless soundscape that appropriately launches listeners beyond the
earthbound themes of the record's previous tracks. Then, "Breath" plunges
back into familiar territory with cascading drums and dueling guitars before
easing into "Spectre," a standout that mixes melancholy, angst, and raw
beauty. Opening with a beautiful riff, the poignancy of Avila's question,
"Are you afraid of me?", resonates deep and makes "Spectre" a quintessential
Trauma Ray anthem.
"Flare" is a cool interlude after the heaviness of "Spectre," shimmering
guitars leading into the returned intensity of "ISO," which throws the
listener back to the core sound of the album. "U.S.D.D.O.S." closes out the
record with seven minutes of dark guitar playing and haunting vocals, its
title named for a Chilean poem that roughly translates to "a dream within a
dream." The listener is left floating in a quiet state of contemplation
during this finale, with poignant feelings of sadness and isolation captured
in a remarkably moving fashion.
Chameleon is a love letter to shoegaze-cohesive, with nods to genre
influences like Failure, Slowdive, and HUM, yet thoroughly original and
sincere. Trauma Ray has come into their own here and cements themselves as a
formidable presence in modern shoegaze. Haunting layers, masterful harmonics,
and a deeply resonant emotional core, Chameleon stirs as a debut that raises
the bar high for what comes next.
10/10 - Chameleon is definitely one of the best releases of 2024, and
shoegaze fan or not, this album's worth a listen.
*
- Interview: Jon Perez of Trauma Ray Talks 'Chameleon' -
Despite being a choir and theater kid, I don't have a strong opinion about
karaoke. I've been inebriated enough to indulge it from time to time, but my
hot take on the artform is that it's best for those who aren't exactly great
singers but who aren't afraid to make a fool out of themselves. Since I have
made a 14-year side hustle out of finding music that is actively appealing to
my ears, I prefer not to seek out bad music. However, I now have a favorite
karaoke story to tell, and it's not even mine.
Two dudes in Texas bonded over a love of Slowdive and Deftones, and the rest
is now history. Trauma Ray, the resulting band, is the exception to my rule
that shoegaze is best as a glaze rather than a cake: meaning shoegaze
typically works as a second or third ingredient rather than the base (see
post-rock, blackgaze). Even Deftones meets my criteria, since shoegaze is
probably fourth in their hierarchy (underneath metal, art rock, and Chino
sound horny). Trauma Ray sound like a Batman Light Beam for the terminally
bummed, but instead, it's a melancholic reflection on the state of the world
and an almost existential desire to find or create meaning.
Guitarist Jon Perez shares that this debut, Chameleon, is about an end and a
start:
"For the most part this record deals with death in its many shapes and forms,
and also the way life is ever fleeting throughout each moment, inevitably
bringing each of us closer to our own end. Inescapably also our choices and
actions throughout our lives that shape our past and future and the feelings
and insecurities we face that come with being alive. We try and speak about
these things while also remaining somewhat vague lyrically, and hope the
overall mood in the instrumentation of each track gives off those kinds of
feelings."
*
I finally got around to checking out the entirety of Chameleon, the
long-awaited debut from Texas heavy-gazers Trauma Ray. I was skeptically
pleased with the record's lead single "Bishop," but I'm happy to say that I
enjoyed the full record more than I anticipated. Yes, the reference points
they're playing with are plainly obvious (Nothing, Whirr, Deafheaven, Hum),
though I think Trauma Ray are stronger songwriters than many of their
style-over-substance contemporaries, and that makes Chameleon sound like a
record that will hold its own well beyond the waning half-life of the
American nu-gaze boom.
While most fans are probably coming to Trauma Ray for ear-engulfing guitar
barrages, I'm more interested in B-side cuts like "Breathe" and the Greet
Death-y "Spectre," where the band open the windows of their dank, cavernous
sound and allow some prettier ambience to waft in. The Slowdive circa
Pygmalion trip-hop instrumental "Drift" and the delay-soaked interlude
"Flare" are crucial breaks from the bludgeoning monotony, keeping me fully
invested in the record's flow all the way through its seven-minute
peak-scaler "U.S.D.D.O.S." The closer caught me off guard by never erupting
into predictably gnashing chords, but instead growing to a gentle boil of
burbling fuzz and then receding back down to a low heat simmer. It's simply
one of the prettiest shoegaze songs I've heard in a long time, and I never
expected to hear it from a band like Trauma Ray. Props.
*
- Rainbows in the Dark: trauma ray - Chameleon -
Shoegaze is a complex genre that can float in and out of heaviness with ease.
I love the versatility of it and the ever underlying dreaminess. trauma ray
has mastered shoegaze and that layered, textured sound in their debut
full-length album Chameleon. There is a mix of heavy, ethereal, grunge,
pop-punk, instrumental, and more woven throughout that makes the album
dynamic and captivating. The tracks gently float into the next creating a
cohesiveness and a peaceful movement. The subject matter of the album is
quite heavy and emotive but the overall provocation is introspection and
ultimately catharsis. Chameleon is an album to fully immerse in.
Singer/vocalist Uriel Avila while contributing to the writing of the album
was heavily inspired by his background and escape from a devout Pentecostal
community. Themes of guilt, purgatory, and the afterlife are easily picked
up on and add to the emotional authenticity and complexity of Chameleon. The
array of influences enhances the overall listening experience. The album
opens with a catchy guitar melody before drums are introduced, some
screeching feedback, and then the track fully comes to life. While "Ember"
is a song of grief lyrically, the music is uplifting and holds more of a 90's
alternative groove akin to Sunny Day Real Estate. The title track welcomes
in some post-hardcore elements with a catchy bass-line and heavier riffs, but
lighter airier vocals again embracing this contrast and stirring emotions as
well as invoking reflection.
A favorite track of mine is "Bishop" which is a faster paced song with
heavier guitars and thick walls of sound acting as a release of energy. It
is one of the more powerful songs on Chameleon and the first single released
giving a perfect taste of what was to come. Halfway through comes "Drift,"
an instrumental piece that calms things down with swirling tones and almost
sounds like dreamy elevator music. This offers a transition into the second
half of the album where instead of focusing on death, grief, and mourning, it
centers on remembrance, dreams, and light. "Spectre" comes shortly after, a
slower, quieter track with haunting melodies and harmonies that eventually
picks up to add some depth with guitars and a looming bass line.
"U.S.D.D.O.S" closes everything out and spans just over seven minutes. The
dreamy track slows things down and gives a steady tempo and sound that is
easy to get lost in.
This is one of my favorite releases of 2024. I absolutely love shoegaze and
have followed trauma ray since their start in 2018 when the band released a
self-titled EP. Chameleon is expertly crafted and involved with each minute
offering something interesting and different enough to make each track
notable. The album moves through emotions and sounds with ease, gently
carrying listeners along. It is beautiful, haunting, relatable, and vibrant.
I cannot recommend Chameleon enough because it fits into many categories and
brought to mind several different bands and albums while still being
something unique that stands strong on its own. Even more impressive is the
fact that this is a debut full-length release from a newer band but I believe
this well establishes their path and mark in the shoegaze scene.
*
It takes but one song live for Trauma Ray to convince you they are the real
deal. The Texas-based rock band released their brilliant debut album
"Chameleon" last year, which was criminally underappreciated and flew under
the radar for most people. While it's easy to dismiss them as a Deftones
clone at first, it's clear that the band is merely channeling the
experimental nu-metal masters to forge a soundscape entirely their own.
"Chameleon" presents a dreamy, tranquil expression that takes from
post-hardcore bands like Basement or Title Fight and contrasts it with
crushingly heavy distorted guitars and a crunchy nu-metal vibe that brings to
mind bands like Chevelle, Taproot, and indeed, Deftones. It's a play on the
classic quiet/loud dynamic, except instead of emo, the band delivers a
haunting ambiance and soaring, atmospheric soundscapes with shoegaze
references plastered all around.
It is difficult to pick and highlight just one song off the record since it
is the uniform expression and style that counts here. But "Torn" is like
Title Fight trebleness combined with early-2000s Deftones melodies, while the
title track contrasts silky-soft vocals with thick, punishing guitar
distortion. "Bardo" lures you in with a heavy lead riff for the ages, before
the ambient style takes over. It's music that's made for the sort of
headbanging where you move from back-breaking right down to the floor in one
slow, but deliberate movement.
Trauma Ray's expansive guitars are made for the big stages. The vocals, which
feel like they're purposefully pushed to the background as a sidenote to the
bombastic guitars, create an additional mystique that'll surely elevate their
reputation. The sheer density of their expression hits you like a brick wall
each time and given how slowly the songs creep forward, there's an element of
doom and gloom that ensures your interest is piqued at all times.
"Chameleon" is a mammoth debut that dares to go back a couple of decades in
terms of influences without sounding derivative. It's a fresh look at the
haunting heaviness that always made Deftones so good, by injecting
post-hardcore godhood into the mix. It's a familiar sound but one that sounds
rejuvenating in 2025. - 8.5/10
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Shoegaze
is a genre of alternative rock that
originated in the late 80s. The genre is very
difficult to define, and it is even more difficult to evaluate music
within it. Generally, the genre is characterized by its
shimmering vocals, reverberating guitars, and
textural distortion that create
a tranquil, opaque
feeling.
---==--==---