Review Summary: Trivium has managed to make a solid release here with some wild solos. But some "expirimentation" . Has lead to a few crappy songs on the album.
Trivium is:
Matt Heafy - lead vocals, guitar
Corey Beaulieu - guitar, backing vocals
Paolo Gregoletto - bass guitar, backing vocals
Travis Smith - drums, percussion
I am going to warn you about a slight bias because i have always been a Trivium fan.
The Crusade, Trivium's latest release, took on a much more Thrash Metal type sound and lacked the screams because of Matt Heafy's vocal problems. This was a good thing because I have never been a fan of Matt's screaming. This change of direction showed the band maturing. I was excited to see the results, so i picked up the album at Best Buy and headed home to pop it into the CD player.
The album opens up with Ignition. Which isn't the best Trivium song ever, but it shows off a cool riff in the beginning, and Matt's vocals are kind of raspy in the verse. There are some good guitar riffs spread amongst the song. The chorus IMO is very good with melodic singing from Matt. The bridge in this song is also pretty crazy, the drums are a bit bland until the double bass though. Ignition takes a few listens to appreciate.
A lot of critics usually neg Trivium for tasteless rythmn work. Which i agree is prevalent in weak songs like "Detonation" and "And Sadness Will Sear". Detonation really seems like a Metallica ripoff, it just screams "I'm a Talentless Douchebag".
However, Notably good tracks on this album are "Entrance of the Conflagration" and "To the Rats". Entrance of the Conflagration is has some of the most awesome riffs on the whole album, and is probably one of my favourite tracks. it includes some pretty melodic solos, and the bridge is pretty fantastic, and the drumming fits it perfectly.
To the Rats is just plain heavy, While the riffs can be kind of boring, the song overall is pretty well put together, and it has a, while not the best, guitar solo that is solid, and the prechorus after it is pretty intense too.
Becoming the Dragon has some really great solos throughout it. The Chorus can kind of drag, which isn't a big deal, the verse is good and upbeat. and the Bridge is incredible and just plain heavy and fast. I think this song represents Trivium's change into trash metal.
Now back to bad songs. Lets take a look at "The Rising"
This song is seems like a ***tier version of a metallica song that is mashed with blues, the solo doesn't fit well with the Rythmn guitar at all, and the song is just generally bad.
More Good Songs:
The Crusade is generally a hit or miss song for people. Personally, I find the song pretty cool because they try to take a different approach with a long instrumental, and it can always keep your attention. It sounds a lot different from most Trivium songs too. Paulo also shows off some pretty good bass playing at parts too.
Tread the Floods, to most people, will probably be the best song on the album, because it opens up with an intro with a great guitar riff and still features some excellent guitar work throughout and the chorus is pretty fast and it brings back the really great riff from the intro. The verse is kind of slow, but the guitar manages to keep your attention.
Anthem is kind of a cheezy song, sounds like soemthing out of a transformers game. But this song still has a pretty good and easy solo to listen too and the chorus is good too, the only downfall is the verse, which kind of drags.
Before I take a look at some of the Instruments/Members. this is a song that really pissed me off.
The World Can't Tear us Apart.
This is some subpar, cheesy emo song with boring riffs, a mindless shred solo, and offkey vocals most of the time. the drums aren't interesting at all either, just basic beats. This is without a doubt the worst song on the album.
Matt Heafy is a great guitarist, there is no doubting that. But at some times his vocals seem to be raspy. and not as clean as his clean singing in the earlier albums. This album would probably be a lot better for people if they had a new vocalist. I personally find his vocals not too terrrible.
Corey seems like a great guitarist too, if not better than Matt. I don't have much to say about him because I don't know which parts he does. But he seems like a solid enough member
Paulo keeps the rythym and shows off some bass skills in "The Crusade" and "Entrance of the Conflagration". Paulo is one of the better Bassists of the metal genre IMO.
Travis Smith's drumming has toned down a bit too. The drumming in Ascendancy was pretty amazing, and i wish more double bass kicking was brought back, because i personally thought that it really set the scene for a lot of Ascendancy songs.
Other than Detonation, here is what i have to say about all this Metallica business.
I definately don't think these guys are going to be the new Metallica at all
(how do they even sound like Metallica, i can see the influence, but really?:S)
but I don't think this is the worst album in the world. All the songs on it are really hit or miss. To me these are the hits and misses
Hit:
Entrance of The Conflagration
The Crusade
To The Rats
Tread the Floods
Becoming the Dragon
Ignition
Anthem (Kind of)
Miss:
And Sadness Will Sear (Just Crappy)
Detonation (Metallica Ripoff)
The Rising (Failed Blues Attempt)
This World Can't Tear us Apart (Celine Dion Ripoff)
To be honest, I think Trivium shouldn't take ideas from other songs and just be a bit more creative. Almost every song they don't steal ideas from are all pretty incredible. I also think Matt should rest his singing voice for awhile so it is less raspy. But i still reccomend picking this up as it's a good listen, and you might even enjoy the songs i hated.
In the very end. This album is really all about personal opinion. It's a solid release IMO.
OVERALL RATING 3/5
There you have it, I know i'm in a minority around here for liking Trivium, but those are my thoughts on The Crusade
