Vitals

Current Members

Notes

• Metallica and Megadeth cited as a big influences
• Heafy was recruited while being seen at a highschool talent show singing The Offspring's Self Esteem

Genre/Style Breakdown

Major Discography

Year

Type

Title

2003

Ember to Inferno

2005

Ascendancy

2006

The Crusade

Similar Artists

God Forbid

Atreyu

Killswitch Engage

Avenged Sevenfold

Shadows Fall

Commentary

Trivium is one of these bands that seems to cause a lot of dissension between extreme metal
"purists" and those who don't mind a clean vocal here and there. To this critic's ears,
there is absolutely nothing not to like about this young and extremely talented
group of guys. While somewhat of a pretentious statement, many have compared Trivium to
Metallica, not just sonically, but the way the latter lead the metal pack during their
heyday. I must say that I most definitely couldn't agree more.

Their seem to currently reside two camps of opinions on Trivium: you either think they're
the next big thing or despise them for being too generic and radio-friendly. I think it's
fairly obvious that I fall into the former. Yes, Trivium uses breakdowns. Yes, Trivium has
a rather generic sounding screamed vocals. But one has to take that within context. Just as
the 80s thrash movement had its stylistic hallmarks, so does the "New Wave of American
Metal" metalcore scene. However, what Trivium does is take the givens of the genre and add
their own progressive, catchy, melodic elements to it - and they do it extremely well. One
thing that really pisses me off is that Trivium "sounds like everyone else" or they're "not
metal enough". Since when does a band have to lack melody and comprehensible vocals to be
considered good "metal"?

Trivium has incredibly crunchy, thrashy riffs that hearken back to the aforementioned Bay
Area scene mixed with a great ear for melodic, complex guitar solos and soulful , clean
vocals. It's no wonder bands like Megadeth and Metallica are cited as huge infleunce.like
them, Trivium is able to mix muscular mosh riffs with ear-friendly song structure, solos,
and at times, vocals, much the way the aforementioned bands have. Although Trivium doesn't
do anything particularly innovative (at this point, more or less everything has been done
at some point in the genre, within reason), but the things the band does do, they do with
incredible competence, style, and tightness. The sum of their parts is mostly definitely
greater than the whole; not to take away anything from the band. Dare I say, with no one
being older than 22 years old, these 4 musicians sound extremely tight and produce well
thought-out song-structures far beyond a band only on their sophomore effort (as of this
writing).

One thing Trivium brings to the table that is unique from most other bands in the American
metal/metalcore genre is that Matt Heafy frequently employs the use of clean, melodic,
almost pop-punk vocals during choruses and refrains. Many have complained about this, but
for someone who actually enjoys being able to understand lyrics and hear vocals that
compliment the soaring guitars of a song, this aspect is a boom. Yes, even my buddy who
absolutely hates harsh vocals (even technically competent bands like Children of Bodom)
said, upon listening to Ascendancy: "I haven't gotten this into a band since I first
discovered Altaria", which is definitely a testament to Trivium's accessibility; by no
means a bad thing.

In sum, Trivium is able to meld the crunchy riffs of thrash and metalcore with an
easy-on-the-ears penchant for melody and progressive songs that flow seamlessly. If any
modern band can aspire to be as big as Metallica was, then Trivium definitely possesses the
drive and prowess to achieve it. This young quintet can only get better with age.