Trivium

 Formation and debut album (1999—2004)

At his Lake Brantley High School talent show, guitarist Matt Heafy performed a cover version of "Self Esteem" by The Offspring.  Vocalist Brad Lewter noticed Heafy and asked him to try out for his band. The pair went over to drummer Travis Smith's house where they played Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Impressed with Heafy's performance, they accepted him into the band known as Trivium. After several shows at bars and local clubs, Lewter quit the band and Heafy took over his position as vocalist. In early 2003, Trivium went into the recording studio to record its first high-quality demo disc. A copy of the demo was heard by German label Lifeforce, who signed Trivium. The band entered a studio to record its debut album, Ember to Inferno. As time went on, Corey Beaulieu joined. In 2004, Paolo Gregoletto joined as the band's bassist to replace Brent Young, before a tour with Machine Head. The album Ember to Inferno managed to garner the interest of Roadrunner Records representatives, who later signed Trivium to a record deal. They then began writing songs for their major label debut.

Ascendancy (2004—2006)

In 2004, Trivium recorded its second album, Ascendancy, in Audiohammer Studios and Morrisound Recording in Florida. Produced by Heafy and Jason Suecof, the album was released in March 2005. The album debuted at #151 on the Billboard 200 and at #4 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Allmusic reviewer Johnny Loftus stated on Ascendancy, Trivium are a "ridiculously tight quartet, unleashing thrilling dual guitar passages and pummeling kick drum gallops as surely as they do melodic breaks and vicious throat screeds" and Rod Smith of Decibel magazine praised "Smith’s impeccably articulated beats, bassist Paolo Gregoletto’s contained thunder, and, especially, Heafy and guitarist Corey Beaulieu’s liquid twin leads." The album was also recognized as the "Album of the Year" by Kerrang! magazine. In 2005, Trivium played the first Saturday set on the main stage at Download Festival in Castle Donington, England, credited by Matt Heafy as the gig that really launched Trivium on the world stage. Singles and music videos were released for "Like Light to the Flies", "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation", and "Dying in Your Arms". The videos for these songs gained rotation on MTV2's Headbangers Ball and Pull Harder on The Strings of Your Martyr has become one of their most well known songs and has become the song that they usually close their set with.In support of the album, Trivium played on numerous tours with well known artists. The band opened for Killswitch Engage, Iced Earth, Fear Factory, and Machine Head, who were one of Heafy's largest influences. Trivium played at Road Rage 2005, and made an appearance at the Download Festival. Ascendancy was re-released in 2006 with four bonus tracks and a DVD containing all of the band's music videos and live footage.

The Crusade (2006—2008)

In April 2006, after a headlining tour featuring Mendeed and God Forbid as openers, Trivium entered the studio with Suecof and Heafy producing again. The band played the Download Festival again, this time on the main stage with Korn and Metallica. Trivium released The Crusade in October 2006. Debuting at number 25 on the Billboard 200, the album sold over 32,000 copies in its first week of sales. The album was a critical success, with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone claiming "Nothing mars a good metal record like so-called harsh vocals" and Don Kaye of Blabbermouth.net stating The Crusade "is one of the best metal releases of 2006 and quite possibly the heavy music album of the year." On The Crusade, Heafy's vocals changed from the metalcore scream that was featured on the band's previous albums, to more singing on this album. This new singing style, along with the band's thrash metal music were criticised of sounding too much like Metallica, who was a major influence on the band. Heafy commented on the change:

"If anyone is wondering why the screaming is gone it's because the four of us were never into bands that scream and we don't like any of the current bands that scream, so we asked ourselves why we're doing it. This time around I wanted to be a better singer because that's what we wanted to hear, so we dropped the screaming and did a lot of vocal training and vocal work."

 

Shogun (2008—2009)

Trivium started working on a new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz in October 2007. Heafy stated he wanted to bring back the screaming that was found on Ascendancy. The band stated they did not choose to work with Suecof again because they already recorded three albums with him and they wanted to explore new ideas. Recording ended June 2008.

In an interview with the UK's Metal Hammer magazine in May 2008, Matt Heafy stated that their new album was to have "more thrash influences, more screaming and more raptors. Possibly more screaming because of the raptors." He told Revolver magazine, "For the first time, we can't look at our songs and say who the riffs sound like. We're really making our own stuff and our own kind of music and art form, and that's exciting." In September 2008, Trivium released their fourth full-length album, Shogun. The album sold 24,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, and debut at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart as well as Number 1 in the UK Rock Album Charts.

On August 14, Metal Hammer posted the following message on their blog, as stated by Matt Heafy: “We have some stuff not as a whole band but each individual guy has maybe ten to twenty songs. I have done about fifteen, but I have gotten rid of all but six because I kept the good ones as I kept going on, the newer songs I was writing were stronger and better so I got rid of the ones that weren’t as good. Paolo (Gregoletto, bass) has a bunch of songs, like twenty or so, but he keeps cutting back as well. Everyone keeps writing as many as they can, but then cutting back the weak ones and not worrying about trying to make them better songs.”

However, it was confirmed on November 7, at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, that the band would "not be returning to Philadelphia for awhile or touring as much" due to plans to return to the recording studio's to record their 5th studio album during mid-2010.

Trivium toured extensively through out 2009 in support of Shogun, with two headline legs of the US, a headline slot on the Mayhem Festival second stage, a Australia/Japan leg, as well as a conclusive UK run in March 2010. Through out their headline runs they have been supported by Chimaira, Darkest Hour, Dirge Within, Whitechapel, Rise to Remain and Black Tide. They are now scheduled to play a major role in Australia's Sound Wave Festival.

Travis Smith unofficially left the band on the second leg of the "Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour" tour. On February 4, 2010, the band announced that Travis had indeed officially left the band and fill-in drummer, ex-drum tech, Nick Augusto, was replacing him. Augusto is a former member of Maruta and Metal Militia, in which he played in with Gregoletto. The band has not yet stated the reason of his departure.

The departure of Travis Smith, God of War III and new album (2010—present)

A couple of days after the release of Trivium's "Shattering the Skies Above", the band's first release that does not feature original drummer Travis Smith, frontman Matt Heafy opened up about why Trivium no longer includes Smith, and how former drum tech Nick Augusto was made into his replacement.

"We were coming to the point where the band was – not necessarily dissolving – but dissolving in creativity and maybe in live fire and energy, so we had to make a change for the positive," Heafy told Noisecreep. "Thankfully, we were able to find Nick, who was able to step it up and really be that guy to take us to the next level."

While Trivium's relationship with Smith had deteriorated over the years, the band had no immediate plans to replace him when he announced in late October 2009 that he would be sitting out the 'Into the Mouth of Hell I tried to tour' tour to take care of "some personal business." It was not until after the band members started playing with Augusto on the tour that they realized the injection of new blood served Trivium well.

"I was familiar with Nick's stuff with Maruta, and I knew he could play really fast, but I was really curious on how he'd do with our band," Heafy said. "I remember stepping out of the car and hearing him practicing 'Into the Mouth of Hell We March,' and I'd never heard the song played with that ferocity. It sounded like the album, but it was a little faster, harder and angrier. The first song we played [with him] was 'Rain' [from 2005's Ascendancy] and I remember him playing the end section and it was so effortless it almost looked fake. I looked at Corey and we both started laughing at the same time. I could tell we were both just thinking, 'Who the fuck is this guy?' So it's very cool he was able to bring that intensity to stuff that already existed and bring his own flair as well."

To this day, Heafy insists he has no idea exactly what 'personal issues' prevented Smith from touring, but he is grateful for the opportunity to play with Augusto, and wishes Smith the best of luck with his future endeavors.

"We told him over the phone [that we were continuing with Augusto,] and it was hard for everyone involved," Heafy said. "But I hope it's going to be something Travis recognizes was for the better for him in years to come. For his own health and well-being as well and for our own. I heard that he's doing very well now and that's the best you can wish for. And we hope he does amazingly, no matter what he picks in life to do next."

In an interview with OneMetal.com, guitarist Corey Beaulieu added, "...over time, things just kinda weren’t working out, and we did a headline tour of the US and about halfway through Travis just said he wasn’t going to do the next tour, so regardless we had to think about getting someone to fill in, then once we started playing with Nick we just knew it was the right thing." On the nature of Smith's dismissal from the band, Beaulieu stated

"...things were falling apart, and we just kind of pulled the trigger first, just to get it done, move forward and get the new guy settled in and comfortable. It’s been working really great with Nick and when people see the show they will see why."

Trivium contributed to the God of War III soundtrack by recording the song, "Shattering the Skies Above". It is exclusively included on God of War: Blood & Metal, a digital EP that comes with the Ultimate Edition of the game and is available from the iTunes Store. The band has also recorded a cover of the song "Slave New World" by Sepultura. "Shattering the Skies Above" was also released exclusively to their fanclub (TriviumWorld) on February 12, 2010 and was released widely on February 15. The next day their Sepultura cover "Slave New World" was released as a free download for members of the UK via Metal Hammer UK. In an interview with STV, Heafy has said: “Things are great and its definitely preparing us for our next record which is what we have been prepping for and we have been writing for it.“It’s going to be and has to be the best record we have ever done. Every record we say that but this is going to be definitive, this is going to be the one.” Bassist Paolo Gregoletto adds: “We have been rehearsing full new songs at soundchecks and stuff. We have a lot of new ideas and every year we talk about what we want the album to be and we are still in the stages of finding where I think it’s going to be and it’s starting to shape up right now. We just have tons of material written already and after this tour, [we'll] take a small break and then we’re hitting the warehouse where we rehearse and write the music and we’re going to start demoing and hopefully we’ll get it started by the summer and finished by the fall.”In an interview with Guitar World, it was stated that for their forthcoming fifth studio album, Trivium will move forward by looking back. The group will forego the complex epic compositions, tricked-out, leads and seven-string guitars that characterized its past two albums. Trivium will take an approach similar to that of its second album Ascendancy (2005) by using uncluttered riffs, drop-D tuning, and more straightforward solos. "When we did Ascendancy, we were writing specifically for the songs, not to show how well we could play," says frontman and guitarist Matt Heafy. "That wasn’t exactly the case with our next two records." Adds Heafy’s co-guitarist, Corey Beaulieu, "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." Heafy stated Twitter that they will be entering the studio on January 2. Matt Heafy stated on December 11, that there are going to be 10 – 13 songs on the new album. On January 31, 2011, it was announced that Trivium would take part in the Mayhem Festival for the second time alongside Machine Head, In Flames, Megadeth, Godsmack, and Disturbed. It was announced on February 18, that Trivium will be special guests for Iron Maiden, on their Final Frontier world tour at the London 02 on August 6, 2011. On their official website, Matt Heafy says “We couldn’t be more honoured and excited to share a stage with the legendary Iron Maiden. This will be Trivium’s first UK show in a long time & we’ll have a new record under our belts to debut. Lights Out London for an immense night of metal. Up The Irons.” On May 21st, Trivium's new single "In Waves" leaked onto the internet.

Musical style

Trivium cross multiple heavy metal genres such as metalcore, thrash metal, progressive metal, alternative metal, groove metal, and even death metal. Their style has evolved over the years from their earliest work on Ember to Inferno right through to Shogun, there is a clear thrash influence from Metallica and some early In Flames.Trivium has stated that in general they are influenced by musical groups such as Metallica, In Flames, Machine Head, and Iron Maiden. Upon the release of their second album Ascendancy, Trivium were identified as metalcore with strong elements of thrash metal, with the third track on the album “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” becoming a permanent fixture in the band's set lists and the rest of the album selling itself to gold status. Ascendancy was even featured as one of Metal Hammer’s Albums of the Decade. Later releases have marked changes in the band. The Crusade was seen as a major shift in musical direction due to the change in vocal style, namely the absence of screaming, and some of the melodies featured. The Crusade is a much more thrash-oriented album and lyrical content was also different in direction, citing current affairs, such as the Yates murders and the 1999 Amadou Diallo killing. In Autumn 2008, Trivium released Shogun, which has a heavy Japanese influence on its title track as well as the first single release "Kirisute Gomen", which translates to "authorization to cut and leave". Acknowledging Matt Heafy’s Japanese heritage, the album also was described more favorably as more their own style, as previous references to Trivium sounding like Metallica had been made on the back of The Crusade. The Crusade made sparing use of 7-string guitars, which were featured heavily on Shogun. Many of the songs on Shogun draw lyrical inspiration from Greek mythology. "Into the Mouth of Hell We March" and "Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis" detail the story of Odysseus choosing whether to face the giant whirlpool Charybdis or the 6-headed monster Scylla. "He Who Spawned the Furies" is about the Titan Cronos devouring his children and castrating his father Uranus, creating Aphrodite and the Erinýes (the Furies). "Of Prometheus and the Crucifix" references the daily torment of Prometheus and alludes to crucifixion of Jesus Christ, serving as a metaphor for enduring torment by the public for daring to contribute something new to society. "Like Callisto to a Star in Heaven" is written from the perspective of the nymph Callisto, detailing her rape and impregnation by Zeus and her transformations into a bear and into Ursa Major. "Down from the Sky" features a contemporary theme, chastising those who spark wars for profit or religion, and warning of nuclear holocaust.

 

 

 

Posted in: Metalcore