Metal Underground.com

If Troll was the band playing at a bar, I have no doubt I'd be tapping my toes, sloshing my beer and generally having a good time. But, at the end of the night, you wouldn't see me lining up at the merch table to buy their 2007 CD "Army Of Lost Souls."

Sure, the band has a nice late-'70s vibe, with "Power" and "Demon Killa" especially having a Priest-ly feel about them. I especially have to single out singer/guitarist Tom Mayo's performance on the album. His lead guitar lines have a sharpness to them that contrasts nicely with Fred Dupont's rhythm parts. His vocals are pretty good as well, though operating mostly at a mid-range level ("Eyes On You" has a nice falsetto part).

Unfortunately, the production on this disc isn't all that spectacular and the rhythm section of Yukiko Fujiii on bass and Steve Kenney on drums is pretty subpar. Kenney's overly simple drum parts on songs like "Sweet Love" really stand out. Of course, the tinny production kills everything but the cymbals and snares a lot of the time, so that may not entirely be his fault.

Like a lot of 1970s metal, Troll relies a little overly much on acoustic guitars, with "Midnight," "Army Of Lost Souls" and "Midnight" all having a similar feel to them. That said, "Army Of Lost Souls" is the best of the three largely acoustic tracks, with its singable "all came crashing down" chorus.

Since the album came out, Troll apparently disbanded (or at least changed its name). Its website, www.trollrock.com now takes you to a MySpace page for a band called Knightstorm, which features Mayo on vocals and guitars. Here's hoping that band's rhythm section better complements his good guitar lines than Troll's does on "Army Of Lost Souls."