Trivium – Silence In The Snow

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Steve Tovey

There aren’t many bands to achieve the success levels that Trivium have that have to subsequently prove themselves over with each album. While the shadow of the decade old Ascendancy (Roadrunner) continues to loom over their career, that familiar feeling of deja-vu pervades as the Floridians unveil their seventh album, Silence In The Snow (also Roadrunner), once again to a backdrop of doubters and people gleefully awaiting a failure to show their mettle.

There is often negativity and scepticism attached to bands changing their style, but Trivium’s new music sounds more sophisticated and almost effortless. The introductory track ‘Snofall’, delicately crafted by Ihsahn to reflect the melodies of the upcoming title track, is dark and haunting; intriguing the listener, yet not giving away exactly what direction Trivium are going to take with their new sound, and the beautiful melodies are able to reinforce the themes of loneliness and of course… snow. The snow theme seems to have put off a lot of people, as if snow is only related to Frozen or Christmas. Although it may make a good Christmas present, this album is anything but tacky…

Title track ‘Silence In The Snow’ had its live debut earlier this year on the bands’ summer shows and since then it has been frequently gracing the airwaves and segues from the introduction before duplicating the same chaos as ‘In Waves’ with its melodic stomp. ‘Blind Leading The Blind’ is one of the strongest songs on the album and the guitar work is extremely effective: the simplistic riffs contrast well with the technical guitar solos.

‘Until The World Goes Cold’ opens with a haunting guitar riff, and progresses into a slow yet bass-heavy song. There are no fast-paced or shredding guitars, as the track shows Trivium’s softer side. Matt Heafy’s clean vocals are stronger than ever, and there is more of a focus on the lyrical content, with the heavy vocals of previous albums left by the wayside; exploring themes of legacy and fading away in ‘Dead And Gone’, singing “I feel I will die a forgotten man, just a number.”

Trivium have been criticised in the past for trying too hard to create music that they think everyone will like, however, Silence In The Snow should change perceptions and sets up a future direction. With less of a focus on trying to be the heaviest, it is much easier to enjoy their sound for what it really is: decent metal music which does not need harsh vocals.

Heafy’s improved vocals are the focus throughout, a path which is a continuation of the route travelled on Vengeance Falls (Roadrunner), so if you are looking for an extremely heavy album then you will be disappointed. Allow yourself to enjoy the increased emphasis on song-writing and melodic refrains, however, and Silence In The Snow will resonate with you.

7.5/10

JULIA CONOPO

Metal Allegiance – Metal Allegiance

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Steve Tovey

All-star mash up albums are great when they work – for example Roadrunner United or Dave Grohl’s Probot project. But they are terribly underwhelming when they don’t – for example this year’s Teenage Time Killer or any number of fast-buck tribute albums.

Metal Allegiance (released via Nuclear Blast), a project centred around Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick and former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, features a revolving cast of singers, and definitely counts as an all-star mashup. Each track features a different singer and focuses on a different style of metal. Despite the cheesy name, the self-titled debut manages to avoid being a hockey tribute and instead is a perfectly satisfying, if safe, tribute to the genre.

The 10 tracks on offer cover pretty much all areas of mainstream metal of the last decade or so. Opener ‘Gift of Pain’ (featuring Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe) is a solid mid-paced chugger, featuring the kind of groove you’d expect on a Lamb of God album track. ‘Dying Song’ sees Phil Anslemo do his best Layne Staley impression over a Black Label Society-eque southern rocker. ‘Can’t Kill The Devil’ (featuring Testament’s Chuck Billy) is a classic slice of American thrash. All the way through, the quality of the music can’t be faulted.

Troy Sander’s spot on ‘Let Darkness Fall’ gives a glimpse of how Mastodon could have sounded if they were more of a thrash outfit but retained their experimental edge, while King’s X singer dUg Pinnick and Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta come together perfectly for what is probably the album’s highlight in ‘Wait Until Tomorrow’; Pinnick’s haunting baritone juxtaposes Jasta’s aggression in what is one of the few surprises on the record. Matt Heafy’s bland appearance on the dull ‘Destination Nowhere’ is the only real stinker (how far he and Trivium have fallen since he guested on 2005’s Roadrunner United album).

But throughout Metal Allegiance, it’s Skolnick that shines brightest. His blistering solos are scattered throughout the record and add some urgency and life to each track. The scorching guitar work on ‘Gift of Pain’, the Spanish interlude of ‘Let Darkness Fall’ or the grungy groove of ‘Wait Until Tomorrow’ all make them a more enjoyable listen. It’s only the self-indulgent masturbation of seven-minute instrumental ‘Triangulum’ gets old pretty quickly, even if it does feature half a dozen guitarists.

Metal Allegiance is good fun, but it’s not particularly adventurous; there’s no surprise or controversial inclusions, no one from the extreme edge of metal. Every musician involved can boast a lengthy and successful career and a few spots on the Billboard 100. It is, however, an enjoyable listen and would make a great showcase introduction to the genre for someone who hadn’t heard any metal before, and offers fans a chance to hear some of their favourite singers in a slightly new setting. And that’s no bad thing.

8.0/10

DAN SWINHOE

Unstoppable Recording Machine Coming To Detroit June 18-21st

Posted on April 28, 2015 by newsteam

Critically acclaimed guitarist, composer, producer and engineer Eyal Levi and producer Joey Sturgis (Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men, I See Stars) will be bringing their Unstoppable Recording Machine audio boot camp tour to 37studios in Detroit, MI from June 18-21, 2015.

Having already hosted successful workshops in Cleveland, OH, Orlando, FL and Portland, OR. – which have featured special guests like Matt Heafy (Trivium), Anup Sastry (Jeff Loomis, Intervals), Keith Merrow (Conquering Dystopia), Joey Sturgis and more – Levi describes the “Unstoppable Record Machine” boot camps as “intense, hands-on, comprehensive immersion style experiences that will show people exactly what matters when trying to make pro sounding recordings. In just a few days, we will cover what would take a year or more in traditional school.”

JSF Podcast
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Eyal Levi Fan Page on Facebook
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Gear Gods
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In Flames’ Peter Iwers and Bjorn Gelotte Issue ‘Restaurant 2112’ Book

Posted on January 14, 2015 by newsteam

In Flames bassist Peter Iwers and guitarist Bjorn Gelotte, and childhood friend, Swedish journalist Mattias Lindeblad have penned a book titled Restaurant 2112 – A Tale Of Meat And Metal, about their Restaurant 2112 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The forward was written by Swedish actor Peter Stormare.

The restaurant opened in the spring of 2011 on Magasinsgatan 5 in their hometown, and quickly gaining a reputation for prize-winning burgers and a warm, welcoming ambience. The reader also gets a unique sneak peak into the fascinating, break neck-speed and sometimes crazy life style of a touring heavy metal band, as well as a number of favorite recipes from the Restaurant 2112 menu, and meeting a number of celebrities likely to surface there, including Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Matt Heafy (Trivium), and Oscar Dronjak (Hammerfall).

Dragonforce – Maximum Overload

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Let’s be honest here, you already know whether you’re willing or able to like a Dragonforce album or not. It is fine if you’re not, musical taste is subjective and blahblahblah, but you might as well save yourself (and everyone else) a lot of trouble and just pretend that Maximum Overload (earMUSIC) doesn’t exist, rather than explaining again how shit you think they are.

If you are one of the ten people reading this who actually likes them, chances are that you either think 2012’s The Power Within (Essential/Roadrunner) was a glorious return to form and a reclaiming of their song-writing and catchiness after two albums of pointless indulgence, or a generic Pop Metal album that saw the band leaving behind everything that made them special. If you’re in the latter camp, I’m afraid you might as well go and join the others – it seems that their seventy-three-riffs-a-second Guitar Hero days are firmly behind them.

Maximum Overload takes its cues from the chorus-heavy Pop Metal approach of The Power Within, but expands its musical vocabulary to give each song its own “flavour”. Some of these flavours can be quite superficial – ‘The Game’ has chunky riffing and growled backing vocals (courtesy of Matt Heafy from Trivium) and ‘Extraction Zone’ has Nintendo noises – but fun, though elsewhere they do succeed in taking their shimmering, high-adrenaline Pop Metal into different territories. ‘Three Hammers’ continues the epic diet Blind Guardian Fantasy Metal of ‘Cry Thunder’, ‘Symphony Of The Night’ adds operatic flourishes and anime-gothic romanticism and ‘The Sun Is Dead’ offers a surprisingly effective blend of sugary melancholy. A cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring Of Fire’ rounds it off, achieving the impressive feat of being the silliest thing they’ve ever recorded.

Maximum Overload is a catchy collection of high-energy Pop Metal songs with ambition, a sharp ear for melody and an absolute refusal to feel any shame. Fans who want them to return to the ten minute guitar solos and unstoppable riff-salad of Inhuman Rampage (Noise/Sanctuary) and Ultra Beatdown (Spinefarm) will be disappointed. While it perhaps outstays its’ welcome a little in the second half, it will put an enormous grin on your face if you’ll let it.

8.0/10.0

Dragonforce on Facebook

RICHIE H-R

On The Ascendency- An Interview With Trivium

Posted on November 12, 2013 by News Team

With new album Vengeance Falls scaling charts around the world, Ghost Cult caught up with Trivium bassist Paolo Gregoletto to hear all about the band’s sixth, and definitive, opus. They also chatted about writing and recording, touring Europe, recording with David Draiman, and comparisons to Metallica.

Being a fan of the band, it’s interesting to see how Vengeance Falls fits into the overall journey. Ascendancy established the core sound, The Crusade added Classic Metal, Shogun was dark and heavy, then In Waves and now Vengeance Falls follow a more linear path from each other, being more melodic, more straightforward “Trivium” albums. Was this a conscious decision?

Since the beginning it’s just been let’s get together, write riffs and get the music together, but never to a set plan. This time around we really wanted to have a clear vision well before going in. Every day on tour and during writing we were talking about what we wanted to get out of this record; who we are, what we stand for, and all the things we’ve done previously, what we loved about each of the records, what we could have done better, and what “Album 6”, this far into our career, should be. So, (this time) we wrote towards a specific goal.

You worked with David Draiman (from Disturbed, who produced the album), a decision which caused a “mixed reaction” online, to say the least. Were you aware of the controversy around it, and did you approach working with him with any caution because of that?

When David first approached us, we were really surprised. We didn’t know he wanted to produce us, or even that he produced other bands. When we decided to work with him, we knew that there’d be a stronger reaction than any other time because no other producer we’ve worked with has been in a multi-platinum band, so, yes, we knew there was going to be a reaction, good and bad. When we showed him the demos, and talked to him, and saw the excitement from him to want to work with us and the ideas he had, we all agreed that the music would speak for itself.

We’ve always been a band that has done unexpected things here and there, and this album is one of those moments. I feel you can’t make something unique and exciting if you don’t try to get out of your comfort zone. People will say what they want before they hear it, we just had to make sure we produced what we were talking about from our first meeting, then that would say everything for us. We all feel very confident we achieved what we were talking about in the beginning.

I’m not just pleased with what came out, I’m totally blown away with it.

There is a much greater emphasis on the vocals than any previous album and the comparison that sprang to mind is Bob Rock working with James Hetfield on the ‘Black’ album…

Definitely. This is the album where Matt (Heafy, vocals/guitars) fully comes out as “The Vocalist”. Before, Matt would write as a guitarist first. When you play an instrument and you sing, I think you can use the instrument before thinking about the vocal stuff, and this time he turned that around and the vocals were a big focus. ‘In Waves’ was the start of that, but this time Matt really stepped up to the challenge of taking the lead of a song. Of any record we’ve done, this is one where the vocals are the dominant feature. There’s still the riffs and the technicality we do, but the vocals are in your face. When people hear it for the first time, they’re not expecting the vocals to be so powerful and upfront.

It’s all about the balance. We love our extreme side as much as any of our fans, but we love the melodic side, and all our influences are so varied from very, very extreme metal to very melodic metal, and everything in between. For us, it’s now not about trying to throw everything and a kitchen sink, but finding what works best for the song. Basing a song around him, the vocals sometimes being the key feature, was something that all of us had to learn how to do. But in the end, by doing that we were able to craft the songs into something much, much bigger than when we started demoing them.

The last two tracks take a different approach, and really stand out with a darker, more expansive approach, and two of the best tracks you’ve done to date. Is this a hint at a future direction for Trivium, or just something in line with the dynamics and pacing of the album?

‘Wake…’ was definitely always the one we had in mind for closing the album, for sure. When Incineration came around, that was another we felt could be a potential closer, but then when all was said and done, they fit very well together, the music, the lyrics. They’re definitely the more progressive songs on the album, and we wanted to end it on that note. The beginning, it’s more to the point, the singles, and the more up-tempo stuff, whereas those 2 songs definitely fit together well at the end.

You’re a very highly regarded bass player, with your own BC Rich Bass Guitar range (and VERY nice basses they are too!). How does it feel to be so well thought of in your field as a musician and a technician, a field with a lot of competition?

That’s something I would never have thought of starting out, being recognized for that. The fans getting the band to a certain popularity definitely got me recognized, but I think as each album has gone on I’ve focused on making sure the bass playing is living up to what people want to hear from me, and in the live sense always pushing to perfect my sound and my playing. Bass playing isn’t the thing that gets noticed by the average fan as much, but the people that do hone in on that, it’s nice to be recognised by them. When people say “Aw, man, the bass player’s awesome”, it’s not something you hear for every rock or metal band, and I really appreciate it! And the people I look up to are the larger than life presences in bands, like Steve Harris or Cliff Burton. Even Jason Newsted… just look at his presence in the band… Things like that I’ve tried to emulate myself, but do my own thing, but find my own spot both in the band and in heavy metal bass playing in general.

You’ve just announced UK tour with Killswitch Engage for February 2014, another band who has released a very strongalbum this year. You must be excited about that, and touring again?

We tried to make it a whole Europe thing, but schedule wise it just didn’t work out, unfortunately, so it’s just in the UK, but I’m really, really excited about it. Killswitch Engage are easily one of the best modern-day metal bands and we’ve been friends for a long time. I’m really excited we can make a tour like that happen. I think for fans, and for people that want to go to shows, it’s tough to go see every band you want, and when 2 bands can just get together and make it happen, that’s great, and I’m really excited Killswitch and us can do this.

As a band, you’ve made no secret of your desire to be as big a band as possible, to try to reach Metallica-like status. Is ‘Vengeance Falls’ the album to push you to the next level?

So far, so good with ‘Vengeance Falls’, we’re very happy with it, with how it sounds, the songs we chose, the order we chose. We had a lot of time to really think about it, and we wanted to make everything from the music to the artwork really solid and I’m glad we had that time to make it happen.

The desire of this band has always been to push it to be as big as it can be. In the beginning we just got out there and toured and we realized you have to make those things happen. Make quality music, do quality tours and the rest is up to people taking to it. When we went in to make ‘Vengeance…’ the only thing for us was making a quality record. Whether it’s the album that gets us to that level, I don’t know, but we put everything into it to make it the best it could be, and if it’s the right record at the right time, then maybe…

I definitely feel this is one of our strongest albums, for sure.

So, will you be recording a Metallica covers album to get to number 1?

(Laughs) Err, no comment on that one!

Trivium on Facebook

STEVE TOVEY

Trivium – Vengeance Falls

Posted on November 8, 2013 by News Team

Trivium have always given the impression of trying too hard to second guess what others want from them; reacting to the mixed reception given the more traditional heavy metal of The Crusade, they went too dark, too heavy with Shogun (two very underrated albums, despite being stylistically and critically questioned), before making a respectable, if inconsistent, attempt to restore the balance with In Waves. So, it comes to pass that Vengeance Falls (Roadrunner) is not only Trivium’s sixth release, but their most important since they smashed through the glass-ceiling with their classic second album, Ascendency.Continue reading →

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