There aren’t many bands that could change the way Trivium has over the years and keep such a large audience without making them feel betrayed or isolated. Trivium’s success broke when they released Ascendancy, their heaviest offering, in 2005. It was brutal and unforgiving, but offered some clean vocal breaks to wake you up and keep your attention. The problem was Matt Heafy’s cleans were amateur at best. He had some help from Paulo Gregoletto, the bassist, but they just barely made it work.
Cut ahead to 2008. Trivium releases Shogun, a much different album. This album put prominence on Heafy and Gregoletto’s vocal capabilities, after spending a lot of time and effort coaching their voices to a much better quality. Fortunately, they were able to release this album without losing their fan base. Trivium didn’t have anything to worry about, though. The album was still catchy as hell.
Heafy’s intention with In Waves was to go back to the feeling Ascendancy had and combine that with everything they learned from then to the production of Shogun. “We’re making sure every part in every song needs to be there and is super-catchy and doesn’t go over people’s heads,” Corey Beaulieu said in an interview with Guitar World in October 2010. I believe they accomplished what they set out to do.
Trivium has put together an album that will get plenty of air and stage time while recruiting thousands of new fans. I congratulate them for that. They deserve a ton of praise for their efforts and I’m sure they will see it. That being said, it is not the intention of The NewReview to provide easy A’s for artists who sell tons of records. Our purpose is to give our readers an honest opinion.
In Waves has more hooks, catchy riffs and sing-a-long lyrics than most artists on Billboard’s top 10 pop all-stars. This is the music we’re going to be hearing on Classic Rock 102.9 FM in 20 years. If Trivium has picked up one thing from touring with the likes of Iron Maiden,Metallica, Machine Head and others it’s the ability to woo fans on and off the stage.
Their best song from the new album (and their single, incidentally) is the song from which the album gets its name, “In Waves”. It’s an extremely strong song that will get you singing along in no time. The interactions between the vocals of Heafy, Beaulieu (lead guitar and backing screams) and Gregoletto are extremely engaging. They overlap in a song like “In Waves” while in “Dusk Dismantled” they compliment each other. Heafy’s screams are nearly identical to Beaulieu’s and Heafy’s cleans are similar enough to Gregoletto’s that you can hardly tell who’s singing.
Songs like “Forsake Not The Dream” in which Heafy and Beaulieu complete a nice call and response song are catchy and engaging. I’m totally against the call and response method in principle, but I can’t help but get into the song. My problem is that beyond what you hear the first time there isn’t much more to the album or at least not enough to sink your teeth into. It’s party music, not a technical powerhouse album. You don’t buy a GWAR album to discuss the nuances of their technique. You buy it to remember that crazy, blood-filled show you went to. I think In Waves falls into the same category.
The end of this album drives me crazy. It has this great crescendo up to a point where I am waiting for the levee to break and someone to just scream into my ears some gut wrenching blast… then it just cuts out. Silence. That’s it. Oddly enough, it makes a great intro to the next album in my playlist.
Trivium has produced an album that will appeal to all metalheads. Whether it’s the screams that Heafy and Beaulieu trade or the catchy hooks and lyrics you can sing along to, you will find something that you can’t get out of your head. It’s a worthy album to add to your party metal collection, but my money is going to see Trivium live.
Track Listing
01. Capsizing The Sea
02. In Waves
03. Inception of the End
04. Dusk Dismantled
05. Watch the World Burn
06. Black
07. A Skyline Severance
08. Built to Fail
09. Caustic are the Ties that Bind
10. Forsake Not the Dream
11. Chaos Reigns
12. Of All these Yesterdays
13. Leaving this World Behind
In terms of drama, if one were to put Of Mice & Men on a scale of one to The Days of our Lives, you might go off that scale and land somewhere around Jersey Shore. Here, we have another episode of the all-too-popular reality show Vocalist Discrepancies. Austin Carlile was Attack Attack’s first vocalist. After things failed to work out, he started Of Mice & Men. He was then removed from Of Mice & Men for a while due to several rumored reasons, the official one given being “health,” only for him to be brought back as their vocalist once again to record their second studio album that I’ll be discussing today, The Flood.
All drama aside, there is no denial that the core of this metalcore group is the vocalist. Austin Carlile has one of the best yelps out there right now. He can hold a scream for a jaw-dropping amount of time. Their clean vocalist and bassist, Shayley Bourget, has a very distinct voice, which I personally love. Musically, it’s obvious they tend to fall back onto breakdowns. This will be more than likely be great fodder for the progs, elitists and trolls. I, on the other hand, am a rather accepting person and I love this release. It out-classes their first record by miles and miles and is one of my favorite albums I’ve reviewed so far in 2011.
I’ll go ahead and throw this out there in case you hadn’t gathered already; The Flood isn’t going to be breaking any new ground other than the mosh pits it induces. This sophomore album crushes their previous effort in heaviness, which is interesting actually because clean vocals are utilized much more in The Flood than in their self-titled release. Often I wish that bands would drop the cleans altogether, simply because they’re incompetent and uninspired. I’m glad that Of Mice & Men didn’t though, because the distinct cleans combined with the relentless vocals of Carlile and the heaviness of the music provide for a fantastic listening experience.
Needless to say, if you enjoy metalcore, you should enjoy this. From start to finish it will floor you. The second song “Ben Threw” is absolutely fantastic. The guitar work in this is catchy like none other. The crisp and relentless drums flow along with it perfectly. Remember me mentioning Carlile’s ability to hold a scream? Well at the end of this he clocks in a thirteen second mammoth that should keep you from sleeping tonight. In the track “My Understandings” they slow it down a little bit and Bourget gets a couple minutes to really shine. His fantastic voice does wonders for their music. The finale of the album, “I’m a Monster” is exactly that – monstrous. It’s indescribably heavy. You basically turn into The Hulk when you listen to it, leaving you breathless as the album comes to a close.
This is an album I’ll return to regularly. It’s infectious. Of Mice & Men is back in true form, having out-done their previous effort. To the fans, if you enjoyed their first album, then you will most definitely like this one. It’s not a 2.0 at all; it’s an upgrade. To the band, stick around. You’re doing solid work, but simmer down the drama though.
Track Listing:
01. O.G. Loko
02. Ben Threw
03. Let Live
04. Still YDG’n
05. My Understandings
06. Ohioisonfire
07. Purified
08. Product of a Murderer
09. Repeating Apologies
10. The Great Hendowski
11. I’m a Monster
