Trivium – Vengeance Falls

With a star that once burned brighter than a hot day in hell, Trivium should be one of the biggest metal bands on the planet right now.  However, a dodgy second album and an inability to regain their former momentum has led to them floundering in the middle of the scene, well liked by many but not embraced by the masses.  With their sixth album, Vengeance Falls, they are attempting to rectify that by bringing in David Draiman to produce, a controversial move to say the least.

Draiman’s influence on this album is very clear to see, this is a stripped back Trivium with 10 balls to the wall metal tracks that are going for big riffs and huge choruses, rather than the technical mastery seen on the likes of Shogun.  Right from the start of “Brave This Strom”, with’s its momentous opening riff, through to the epic “Wake [The End is Nigh]” this album is chock full of arena friendly songs.

Highlights include the much immediately heavier “No Way to Heal”, which shifts between it’s more straight up metal verses and it’s big melodic choruses.  While “To Believe” follows on as the most obviously Draiman inspired track, with it’s big bouncy Disturbed esque riffs and Heafy spitting lyrics over the top of it.

It’s in Matt Heafy that long term Trivium fans may see the most difference here, never quite able to determine his own vocal style in the past, Heafy appears to have settled on this release, and has spoken himself on how big a factor Draiman was in this.  Ditching a lot of the unclean vocals, he hits the big choruses on the likes of the title track with ease and proves that despite not generally being known for his singing ability, there is nothing to stop him becoming a front man who is as comfortable screaming into the mic as he is singing.

Some Trivium fans are going to inevitably hate this album, and if I’m perfectly honest I wasn’t a huge fan on my first listen through.  This is a grower though and on each listen you realise just how well this album is put together.  This is Trivium stripped back and kicking ass and if this is the way they decide to go with their future career, that star might burn bright again.

For Fans of: Black Album Metallica, Disturbed

Choice Cuts: “Strife”, “Brave This Storm”