Truster have never shied away from heavy subject matter. The Edmonton doomgaze trio’s new record, Creeping Thing, pushes that intensity even further, digging deeper into questions of religion, autonomy, devotion, and reclaiming power.
The band started working together in 2016, dropping a self-titled EP the next year. In 2020, they returned with Scared Animals Return Home, but like so many others, the band’s momentum hit a wall during the pandemic. By 2023, Truster regrouped, this time with a lineup made up of longtime friends and past collaborators.
“We had always connected over our love of music, DIY ethos, and just actually liking and respecting one another,” vocalist/guitarist Stacy Burnett tells No Echo. That new chemistry shaped Creeping Thing—a record that fuses elements of doom, shoegaze, black metal, and dense, punishing noise.
“We play heavy doomgaze influenced in equal parts by the absurdity of trauma, weaponized resilience, and love,” Burnett explains. Creeping Thing zeroes in on religion and the power structures that come with it, especially Christianity. “I wanted to explore the idea that one can reserve the power that they often give away or ascribe to another being for themselves,” Burnett says. “I wanted to paint a picture of what that can look like, and how empowering it can be.”
That atmosphere is reinforced throughout the album itself, which opens with found audio from a mass exorcism event in rural Alberta before descending into what the band describes as “an ode to reclamation through sublime malevolence.”
The album was recorded and produced in Vancouver by Jesse Gander — known for work with White Lung, Baptists, Brutus, and Castle — before being mastered by Nick Zampiello, whose résumé includes Converge, Isis, Pelican, Unsane, and Thurston Moore.
Two tracks have been released from Creeping Thing so far: “Wretch Collector" and "She Who Requires Blood Remembers Them." The songs show how easily the band moves between crushing heaviness and huge, emotionally charged soundscapes.
Burnett also talked about the changes in Edmonton’s heavy music scene, especially the rising presence of women, queer, trans, and nonbinary musicians in heavier bands. “It’s been amazing to see more and more women, queer, trans, and nonbinary people in our local scene take the stage and make noise,” Burnett says. “It’s inspiring and fills me with hope.”
When No Echo asks the Truster vocalist/guitarist for some hot band tips, she pointed to a handful of Edmonton musical outfits worth watching: Cassia Hardy, Old Mound, Dual Nature, Dire Wind, Falsebody, Lushclot, Everything You Ever Loved, Tekarra, and Midnight Peg.
For Truster, doom, vulnerability, and confrontation go hand in hand. Creeping Thing isn’t about escape—it’s about taking back agency through raw emotional power.
***
Creeping Thing will be out July 10 (pre-order).
Truster on social media: Facebook | Instagram
Tagged: truster
