Review: Trivium’s New Album: In Waves.    

So the metal band Trivium just came out with their latest record called In Waves. In this record we can see that they have gone back to the simplistic/raw/yet melodic style found in Ascendancy (2004),but still providing  the heaviness found in The Crusade and Shogun, each one clearly visible in different aspects of the album.  I personally loved this album from the beginning with the snippets of In Waves, Dusk Dismantled, Inception of the End, etc. After listening non-stop for about 2 ½ months I can honestly say it is an awesome album it truly displays everything that Trivium is, the vocals, the music ,the artwork, and even the wardrobe it’s all there but this time it’s all cohesive.

There was also a lot of pressure on their new drummer (Nick Augusto) who recently joined the band and even though being labeled as a cliché drummer because of his use of the “blast-beats”, the man kept his end of the deal and he did it phenomenally and in such a way that even though he brought his own flair he made Trivium sound more like Trivium if that makes sense.

I also had the chance to meet the band a couple of hours before their show in L.A and they are the most humble, down to earth, nice, and charismatic musicians anyone can meet, and they were everything a young fan could have hoped for.

So back to the album J, The title track In Waves brings a new element which hadn’t been explored before which is “polyrhythmic breakdowns” and this is something that you will hear throughout the album, and the chorus of this song is in my opinion the most authentic display of emotion a musician could transpose through his instrument. Dusk Dismantled is a new fresh off the studio track that is just full on “pedal to the metal” from the beginning and it just liberates into a complete “metal mayhem” in the break section providing the foundation to the next riff a “classical-death metal-melodic dissonance”.

Watch The World Burn is a very Crusade-esque track that contains nice vocal harmonies and has this very “let’s get ready for battle” kind of feel to it just like Down From The Sky from Shogun, and the solo a bit simple does ring out some nice bluesy chops that in this style of music is barely even heard of and the extensive use of the Wah-wah pedal makes it very raw yet delightful to the ear.

Next track, A Skyline’s Severance is just metal in every sense of the word. Matt Heafy’s vocal are just ripping it throughout the whole song, and Nick’s drumming could not have been any heavier. Now, the track Caustic Are Ties That Bind. This track is very special because it starts as a proggy-thrash-metal track with the guitars and the drums and when it reaches the chorus it really cleans up the distraught/agitated in the verse with clean vocals still maintaining the frantic emotion, and finally it breaks in this reflective/frustrated  portion which makes this song all the more special.

Another special track is Forsake Not The Dream, this track is full of nice melodies again following the same frantic/frustrated/sorrowful/yet hopeful lyrically speaking formula which I seem to love and emulate at timesJ. Musically speaking the track is heavy but mixed with some hopeful sounding solos and the “battle-like breakdowns” contrast throughout the song very well.

Another one of the highlights of this album is Chaos Reigns. Simply put everything in this song is chaotic, from the riffs to drums and the “evil sounding dissonance” of the guitar solos.

Last but not least the metal ballad Of All These Yesterdays. This track begins with an acoustic sounding drop-tuned guitar laying a sorrowful/reflective sounding intro which turns into this upbeat crescendo ascent to the chorus liberating into a battle cry and the solos which continue this theme finishing into this epic –bittersweet feel that gives you this feeling and again this is parallel to the lyrics of like “I finished the battle honorably, even though the war was lost we still won” 

In conclusion this is an awesome album which I think has a bit of everything for anybody; I suggest you check it out and see if you like itJ.