Provogue [Release date 05.09.25]

Walter Trout’s ‘Sign of the Times’ is an uncompromising rock album with a bluesy heart and insightful lyrics penned by himself and his partner Marie Trout.

It’s an album rich in story telling, unflinching social observation and as always dips into the autobiographical recesses of Trout’s past.

He rocks hard, he cajoles and he humours us while straddling both micro and macro concerns in a search for meaning.

It’s an album which to invert a Neil Young album title, finds Walter at his ‘glorious ragged’ best, as he finds an equilibrium between rough hewn belligerence and deeply felt introspection.

The self produced album has an edgy feel, as if to reflect its subject matter. This gives the material extra bite, particularly on the title track on which Trout shifts his focus away from the wholly autobiographical and past health scares, to the public gaze.

The lyrics are also smart enough to hit home without falling into a divisive trap.

Trout has spoken out before on such songs such as ‘They Call Us The Working Class’, ‘Puppet Master’/ ‘Money Rules The World’, ‘Blues For The Modern Daze’ and the more recent I’ve Had Enough’, but here he channels his vitriol into his most animated singing and fiery playing to emphasize lyrical punch.

He opens with the hard hitting ‘Artificial’, which make its point through humour and biting satire rather than by simply cracking a nut with a sledgehammer:

Trout leaves the listener to interpret whether it’s a general comment on society, or more specifically the threat of AI: “Artificial hairdo, artificial tan, You can tell just by looking, he’s an artificial man.”

The lyrics for the caustic title track comes from Marie Trout and are more scathing: “ As democracy sours, we try to find our place, but contradictions devour, And When lies are commonplace.”

The drone heavy music sucks the oxygen right out the track, leaving just enough space for a portentous gospel groan on the hook, before Trout leans into a magisterial solo at the 2.37 mark.

Then there’s the bone crunching thud of ‘No Strings Attached ’ which makes its point via some bristling band interplay, full of big sweeping organ and a shimmering guitar break, anchored the Michael Leasure’s drive and John Avila’s nimble bass lines, in a big jammed out finale.

Each one of the heavier tracks act as a structural cornerstone to an album which remarkably incorporates different genres without losing its identity as a whole.

The big hitters finish with the outstanding ‘Struggle To Believe’, a whip cracking rocker on which his road tested tour band push Trout to the limit, as the sheer weight of the track nearly obscures his vocal.

If the above tracks resemble a baby boomer kicking against the faded hopes and dreams of a generation mangled by corporations and political cynicism, there’s still room for the humorous booming shuffle of ‘High Tech Woman’.

As Trout sings; “I need a high tech woman, ‘cos I’m a low tech man,” Teddy Andreadis’s piano leads us into a wall of sound, given added impetus by a stop-time break, a walking bass line, and another priceless lyrical quip: “You could call me hip but that’s an alternative fact.”

He’s back in blues mode on the heartfelt ‘Blood On My Pillow’: “I can feel your indifference, its hollow and it’s raw,” and the defining line: “And It’s my heart that you stole, and the blood on my pillow, it oozes from my soul.”

‘Too Bad’ meanwhile, is a sludgy down-home, ‘live in the studio’ harp and acoustic-led piece, which fits the broken relationship song perfectly.

The heavy quartet of songs aside, there’s plenty of light and shade on this album, especially on the Americana styled ballad of ‘Mona Lisa Smile’, which features a weathered vocal couched by electric piano, squeezebox and even violin.

There’s also an interesting ballad with a very catchy melodic riff and Southern rock sounding solo called ‘I Remember’.

It leads to an almost subconscious spoken word passage, fuelled by the integrity of a moving lyric: “Maybe I’m just an old man, seems I’m in love with a memory, but I got something here, something here, still inside of me.”

‘Hurt No More’ is probably the autobiographical highlight, and perhaps only Trout could make a song about his previous addictions sound both lyrically and musically interesting.

And there you have it. The world has got a lot more serious since Trout’s own ironic T-shirt mission statement: ‘Too many notes, Too loud.’

‘Sign of the Times’ responds to those social changes in the best way possible with biting social commentary, insightful humour and scintillating guitar playing, leaving us to count the notes. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

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