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THE TRIALS OF CATO - Hide And Hair 

THE TRIALS OF CATO - Hide And Hair 
Private Label 

There may be a few readers out there who have been awaiting the arrival of a Welsh / English trio with a Lebanese backstory. Well, that band is here at last! The Trials Of Cato is another young group that has been largely successful developing its own sound on this debut recording - three male voices with guitars and mandolin / banjo being the basic ingredients. I was particularly pleased with the instrumentals and their unhurried groove – a change from the ‘shock and awe’ high-intensity playing favoured by many contemporary bands.

The songs are a mixed bag, deliberately so, but it’s in this respect that the band’s identity loses some of its distinctiveness. There is one song in Welsh, and straightforward versions of My Love’s In Germany and Tom Paine’s Bones. Gloria, arguably the stand-out original composition, has a very neatly-crafted lyric on a sexual identity theme, but I felt that, musically, I was listening to early Mumford And Sons. Similarly, The Drinkers reminded me of The Men They Couldn’t Hang.

On most counts, The Trials Of Cato have got their own sound nailed down, but perhaps they need to be a little clearer as to who they are in respect of the song material. Nevertheless, while they probably won’t be wowing the strictly-traditional end of the market, there is plentiful potential on show here, indicating that the group will be a real up-and-coming prospect in the broader scene.

www.thetrialsofcato.com

Paul Mansfield


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This album was reviewed in Issue 127 of The Living Tradition magazine.