by Ed Rivadavia

Triumph attempted to execute a half-hearted about face with 1987's Surveillance album by abandoning much of the commercial excess of recent efforts for the guitar bombast and progressive rock flourishes of their early work. Aggressive rockers like "Never Say Never," "Headed for Nowhere," and "Running in the Night" are as clichéd as ever from a lyrical standpoint, but offer biting riffs which seem to be begging the fans, "Don't give up on us quite yet." Still, a few oddities do crop up, such as the extensive synthesizer work of "Carry on the Flame," which is oddly reminiscent of '70s progressive rockers Kansas. Sadly, try as they might, Triumph could not recover the hearts of their fans, and without taking anything away from guitarist Rik Emmett's staggering six-string talents, his high-pitched Geddy Lee-derived vocal style was becoming more unfashionable with each passing year. Not surprisingly, Surveillance would be the last album recorded by the band's original lineup.