Trouble

During an era when thrash metal accelerated heavy metal's evolution, Chicago's Trouble represented a deliberate return to the slower, foundational approach of the 1970s, particularly the style pioneered by Black Sabbath; alongside California's Saint Vitus, the band helped establish this sound as doom metal. The group's early studio albums Psalm 9, issued in 1984, and The Skull, released in 1985, are now viewed as cornerstones of the genre. Although personnel shifts and changing musical trends reduced their recorded output across subsequent decades, Trouble persisted into the following century and delivered their eighth studio album, The Distortion Field, in 2013. Commercial breakthroughs remained elusive, yet the band's steadfast adherence to metal's earliest structural principles preserved that template for later doom acts to build upon.

Trouble's distinctive trajectory started in 1979. After extended periods of rehearsal, live performances in clubs, and sonic refinement, vocalist Eric Wagner, guitarists Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell, bassist Sean McAllister, and drummer Jeff Olson attracted the interest of Metal Blade, which put out their polished self-titled debut in 1984. Frequently cited later as Psalm 9 owing to its title and the accompanying scriptural passage—"The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed; a refuge in times of trouble"—the record displayed both the ensemble's allegiance to 1970s heavy metal conventions and their Christian convictions, a stance rare enough in metal circles to earn them the tag "white metal." Regardless of such designations or the "doom" label, Trouble's songwriting ability stood out; though it proved unfashionable amid the peak of thrash and pop-metal, it powered another strong release with 1985's The Skull. Mounting internal friction, drug issues, and frustration over limited financial returns began to stall the group's progress ahead of 1987's Run to the Light. That effort featured a revised rhythm section of bassist Ron Holzner and drummer Dennis Lesh—after Jeff Olson reportedly chose to pursue preaching—and once again encountered broad indifference, ending the relationship with Metal Blade and leaving the band in a three-year hiatus.

Rescue arrived when producer Rick Rubin signed Trouble to his Def American imprint and helmed their 1990 self-titled return. The album, which introduced drummer Barry Stern, earned strong notices from major metal publications, revived the band's visibility, and supported an extended tour that grew their audience, even without mainstream recognition. Aiming for wider reach, the group reunited with Rubin for the follow-up; the resulting, favorably received Manic Frustration incorporated psychedelic touches into some of Trouble's most vigorous performances to date, yet it too bypassed mainstream listeners, partly amid the grunge shift that stigmatized metal. Dropped by Def American amid the label's own difficulties, the band regrouped, reinstated original drummer Jeff Olson, and delivered Plastic Green Head in 1995 via Music for Nations. Though the songs returned to the band's foundational doom approach, they carried an air of resigned acceptance, and Trouble soon announced their dissolution.

In the ensuing years the members pursued separate endeavors. Eric Wagner fronted the brief-lived neo-psych outfit Lid in 1997, while Bruce Franklin and Jeff Olson collaborated with King's X vocalist/bassist Doug Pinnick on the 2000 Supershine project and album. A full reunion gained momentum in 2001 after occasional joint performances, culminating in the release of Simple Mind Condition in early 2007 by the lineup of Wagner, Franklin, Wartell, Olson, and new bassist Chuck Robinson; the record, Trouble's first new material in more than a decade, was dedicated to Barry Stern, who had died two years earlier. The Distortion Field appeared in 2013 and featured vocalist Kyle Thomas in place of Eric Wagner, who departed along with drummer Jeff Olson in 2012. Eric Wagner died on August 22, 2021, at age 62 from complications related to COVID-19.