Trivium Ascendancy

Tracklist:
- The End of Everything
- Rain
- Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr
- Drowned and Torn Asunder
- Ascendancy
- A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation
- Like Light to the Flies
- Dying in Your Arms
- The Decieved
- Suffocating Sight
- Departure
- Declaration

Release Date: 2005

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Trivium- Ascendancy

In the past year my music tastes have changed quite dramatically: At the end of last year I was listening to bands like Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin, but now I listen to Death Metal and any type of “screamo” (yes I know stereotypical word). One of the bands I was bound to stumble upon, being a new metal fanatic, was Trivium. At first I was a little skeptical, because I once heard their all too famous song Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr, and lets just say I wasn’t too fond of it. But this was back when I despised most metal, and only listened to the vocals. I listened long and hard to Trivium’s guitars and drums (which are both amazing), and I eventually came around to them.

See the thing that bugged me the most about them was their style of screaming: rough, edgy, scratchy, and painful-sounding screams. I just couldn’t stand it, but then (after trying to scream like that myself, ha-ha) I realized how hard it actually is to scream like that. I mean Matt Heafy (the lead singer) lost his ability to scream within one year of touring, obviously this style of screaming would have an effect on your voice after awhile (oh and to Trivium fans, Matt is working on vocal lessons to scream again, so expect that on their next new album) Anyways, this opened my eyes to how ridiculously hard it is to scream, and after a few listens I picked up their guitar melodies and riffs, which are actually incredibly complicated for the band only being around seventeen when writing this album.

Trivium is:

Matt Heafy- Lead Vocals, Guitar
Corey Beaulieu- Backing Vocals, Guitar
Paolo Gregoletto- Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar
Travis Smith- Drums

This album isn’t a listen; it’s an experience (yes cliché, but true). Every song keeps you interested with their complex riffs and technical guitar solos. When the album starts with The End of Everything, you get this almost dreary, dark and depressing feeling that flows like a black river through your mind. This short intro uses bass-filled guitar strings that just force this melody to get nailed into your head. But this isn’t what you should expect from the whole album, as this seems almost like a different band wrote an instrumental track to include into the mix.

The album’s overall feel is……. Almost satanic (if you don’t listen to the lyrics that is, which are not at all satanic); as if your listening to a ballad sent to your from hell. All the songs are incredibly heavy (with the exception of Dying in Your Arms) and fast; trust me when I say that you will headbang while listening to this album. In some respects I guess you could say that Trivium’s style is a combination of thrash metal (obviously, their main influence was Metallica) and metalcore. Smith is almost constantly doing double bass blast beats the whole album, the guitarists are constantly performing speedy riffs and guitar solos, and Matt’s vocals are a hybrid of scratchy vocals, screams, and clean beautiful singing sessions.

One song that specifically presents all of these elements very obviously is the piece named The Deceived (Which, in my opinion, is the best song on the album). Right when this song begins the fast riffing and burst-double bass drums beats fill your speakers with bass and noise. Then the harsh screaming of Heafy cuts in and sends chills down your spine. His blood-curdling screams are then halted, and he starts to sing in a scratchy voice, “We are the deceived! Lost in the foreseen!” This is a very addictive and clever chorus; actually every single lyric that comes out of this album’s line up is pretty much well-thought out.

Another element to point out about this element, that’s possibly a negative one, is the fact that the bass guitar is rarely able to be heard. To actually hear the bass guitar perfectly through a whole song, you need very bass-heavy headphones, or a bass-heavy MP3 player. Although truthfully the bass is actually very good, as Gregoletto actually gives you a constant supply of complex bass grooves and rhythms.

Now one instrument that deserves much praise is the drums, Travis Smith is a phenomenal drummer that actually could possibly be compared to skill that of Joey Jordinson (If your very sheltered, that is the drummer of the band Slipknot, if you don’t’t know who they are, then that’s just sad). He supplies your speakers with a constant attack from the double bass drums and sometimes even does some incredibly technical snare drum combinations that all add to the overall experience.

Overall, I would have to say this album comes pretty damn close to a classic, its just that it sometimes gets repetitive in its riff sound and song composition. Although when I look at the album in this way I try to put it into a different perspective: Trivium was going for consistency when writing these songs, not variation, therefore they greatly succeeded in that element of their plans. This is slowly becoming my favorite album of all time, so I will give it a 4.5/5.

Top Five Songs Off the Album:

1. The Deceived
2. Departure
3. A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation
4. Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr
5. Like Light to Flies