Trog - Pre-Ectelent Monodon [CD]

Randy Michaud is Trog. TROG is Randy Michaud and a handful of close friends who joined him in order to make his first solo album a reality. You may remember Randy as the front man for metal bands D.T. Seizure and Tykküs, or as the multi-instrumentalist from ambient doom stalwarts Troglodyte Dawn. But don't think for a second that this new solo project sounds anything like those other bands.In part, Randy reached further back to some very early influences for this album, covering tracks from '60s artists such as Love, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and The Troggs, but he also chose to include a couple of recent remakes by Beck and even the duo of Ozzy Osbourne & Lita Ford. The latter performance includes well-known vocalist Beth Patterson aptly handling the female lead vocal while holding down rhythm tracks on her Irish Bouzouki.Played straight through, the album mimics the sound of tuning a radio dial, pausing occasionally to sample a partial track (several short, well-known interludes that were given the Weird Al Yankovic treatment) and stopping on the full tracks, alternately.The two remaining tracks are Michaud-penned originals. The first, "Punk Rock Cow" is a humorous send-up to '80s hardcore punk featuring Tom Blackwood and Royce Reim of the Lifesize Monsters on co-lead vocals and cowbell, respectively. The second, "The Lizard from Ghost Mountain" is a leftover demo from Randy's D.T. Seizure days, which was co-written by bassist Kevin Mack. The piece is a bizarre mash-up that sounds like Frank Zappa attempting to cover "2112" by Rush.As a whole, the album was meant to be a departure from Randy's typical fare in previous projects. Take it in the spirit which it was originally intended: a fun and entertaining listen from beginning to end with a few surprises along the way.