Power Trip

Aura.

Aura is impossible to manufacture. It is 100% organic. There is no telling how one obtains it and how one maintains it. Aura is what separates the legends from the happy-to-be-heres. A genre of music that has always had an "aura" to it is thrash metal. This is likely because of the guitar work in it. When you think of thrash, you think of the flying v guitars, the long hair, copious alcohol consumption, and circle pits. I know you think this because by now that is what has been manufactured, processed, and sold to you as thrash. You think of Slayer, Municipal Waste, Monster Energy Drink, Jager, and running laps like you're at the gym track on a Wednesday night. Power Trip is a gem because they are not that.

Before Power Trip came along in 2008, thrash was a genre whose constituency was segmented between elitist snobs, subcultural novices who only like Metallica & Slayer, and more advanced dad rockers. The most glaring thing about the thrash genre is that almost all of the greats still tour and put out records. Yes, this is just about as pitiful as it sounds. Because of this, if you are a new thrash band and you go out there you are literally competing against the greats for adoration. The second problem with thrash is that often times the 'act' of coming across partying, 'wylin out', etc looks really corny. Half the time the bands look more like Poison than Vio-lence.

This is where aura matters. Power Trip is a thrash band. They are a good thrash band. What makes their ascension so transcendental is their aura. Power Trip shows are a force unto their own. Kids have referred to them as a "fight to survive". I've heard old NYHC heads say Power Trip shows remind them of the late 80s CBGBs. The band took everything that their predecessors did and took it to the next level. Booze, drugs, always shadowed by a squad of 10-20 of their friends, violence, and an attitude that borders closer to nihilistic apathy than a Jeff Spicoli going "let's party".

It isn't enough to be a good band. Good bands are forgotten more often than the bad ones are. A kid who gets his nose broken, a kid who breaks their hand, a kid who loses a tooth... those kids won't ever forget where they were and who they were seeing when it happened. I have a concussion of my own to vouch for what a Power Trip show is. Aura is the currency in hardcore. It always has been and it always will be. Power Trip can always say they are a rich band.

This is their complete discography: demo, Armageddon Blues, Manifest Decimation, their Lockin Out single, a bootleg set from Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 and their Withdrawal EP.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/xobyg8v5srty9q7/Power_Trip.rar