Formerly known as 41Down, this Alabama based quartet built up a solid fan base with their independently released offerings earlier in their career and subsequently managed to land a recording contract with Geffen Records. Now, with a name change and a decided shift in the focus of their song writing in place, TRUSTcompany are set to impact with their major label full-length debut, "The Lonely Position Of Neutral". Juxtaposing stirring vocal melodies overtop growling nu-metal guitars their sound suggests influence from the likes of Linkin Park, Helmet and more, as they unload large radio friendly hooks with enough necessary musical aggression to win over impressionable heavy music fans the world over.

Using a wispy, heavy hearted delivery band frontman Kevin Palmer clearly brings to mind Linkin Park's Chester Bennington during his more emphatic moments, but rather than wavering his emotions upon every word spoken he instead keeps his passion at an even keel and sings along at a continual pace, leaving the aggressive backup vocals to handle the more dynamic verbal aspects. Colorfully textured guitar playing cemented by driving Helmet reminiscent crunch riffs are offered up by the truckload and give the music a certain depth and spaciousness that is unquestionably fundamental to their sound overall. Generally draped in nu-metal tones and stylings during their bolder moments their playing keeps the songs in your face and current sounding which allows the inherently restrained vocals to work their magic. The assertive bass lines on hand however play a more prominent role in the bands drive and keep the material firmly on track with their often unrelenting push, causing the solid drumming performance offered up to take a back seat of sorts and establish a rigid percussive framework for the rest of the group to indulge upon.

Despite the band having honed their chops and written some impressively catchy music on this outing it will no doubt be a controversial release to their longtime fans. Their sound is now far more commercial and borders upon average melodic alternative metal that many others have already done in the past. Sure a few of the songs are memorable and some will even get stuck in the listeners head for a short period of time, but it also must be said that the band are treading a dangerous path with little innovation or long term substance being served up on this release. As such this album can come off a bit bland and uninspired, quickly becoming tiring to those who have followed the scene for the past few years, though on the other side of the coin it does have the potential to win over a wealth of newcomers as the style is rarely pulled off this competently. That said, whether or not they or not they make their mark with the more experienced heavy music fans is really of little concern as "The Lonely Position Of Neutral" is a confident affair, that when judging by the strong radio and video play it is already receiving, seems destined to gain the attention of the mainstream populace and go on to take them to bigger and better things... Its just a shame that they didn't inject a bit more diversity and longevity into the mix to achieve such tasks.