2022 is already getting off to a good start with new music. This week a ton of new songs have been released that deserve your attention and here they all are! New tunes from Stabbing Westward, Ghost, The Halo Effect (ex In Flames), Matt Heafy’s Black Metal Project IBARKAKI, Centershift, Grumpy Plum, Sound and Shape, Taryn Hadfield and Alphamega
Stabbing Westward- Ghost:
Ghost- Call Me Little Sunshine:
The Halo Effect- Feel What I Believe:
IBARAKI (Matt Heafy of Trivium and Ihsahn of Emperor)- Tamashii No Houkai:
From their inception till the current present, Trivium has been one of the hardest working bands in music. Their relentless work ethic has seen them become an absolute force in the heavy music world. Today, Trivium have announced that they will release their tenth album, titled In The Court Of The Dragon, on October 8 via longtime label Roadrunner Records (Pre-Orders available HERE). The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in the Fall of 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando. The band already released their new track “In The Court Of The Dragon” a couple weeks back and now they have released another single, “Feast Of Fire.” The accompanying video was shot at the bands HQ in Florida which they recently converted an airplane hanger to be their base of operations. The past couple Trivium albums, The Sin And The Sentence and What The Dead Men Say have been quite exceptional and show real mature growth not just as players but as songwriters and this album seems to continue along that path. Trivium is part of the Metal Tour Of The Year featuring Megadeth, Lamb Of God and Hatebreed (who replaced In Flames on the tour). I would bet money that Trivium will be stealing or close to stealing the show each night.
Matt Heafy of Trivium is quite a prolific guitarist and vocalist. Through the years, when you listen back to Trivium’s early years till now, you can really tell how far he’s come and how his style has developed, especially vocally. I’m always curious to see what other bands people have guested on over the years and Matt has lent his talents a few times over time and here they are.
Ice Nine Kills- Stabbing In The Dark (Acoustic Version):
Ihsahn- Mass Darkness:
Metal Allegiance- Destination Nowhere:
Roadrunner United- The End:
On the Dragonforce album, Maximum Overload, Matt provided guest vocals on the songs “The Game”, “Defenders” and “No More”.
For the last 20 years, Trivium has steadily been not only getting better as a band and songwriters but, they have released some pretty damn good albums. They’ve been one of the bands that has been able to evolve without losing sight of their roots. It’s pretty interesting to go back and listen and see how these guys have progressed over the years. So with that in mind here’s what I think is a pretty solid ranking of their albums from not their best to the best.
There are times that when a band first comes on the scene people tend to be very cynical. Especially when the band is made up of teenagers. About 12 years ago, Trivium was thrust onto the heavy music scene, and was met with mixed thoughts. These kids could play their instruments and shred, but that wasn’t enough for most people. Trivium’s first couple albums Ember To Inferno, Ascendancy, and The Crusade, were barely showing the full potential of what the band could be. I first took notice of Trivium when Ascendancy came out. I bought the album and enjoyed it for what it was, a solid piece of metal, that played off the “metalcore” genre that was big at the time. I saw them twice on that cycle, and they did put on a great live show, and were very gracious and humble guys. When it came to The Crusade, I didn’t bother with it. It didn’t seem to have a sense of real depth, and it lacked a real direction of what the band was. Fast forward a few years, to a night when I was searching for something to listen to, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trivium had put out a new album. So naturally I was curious to see and hear what they had become, and I was genuinely intrigued with what the band had become. For the first time I really thought that Trivium had come into their own.
I took the time to go back to all the albums I missed, and I have to say, since their album Shogun, Trivium has really found their sound, and honed their songwriting craft by leaps and bound. Shogun, was thrashy and heavy, with moments of melody that didn’t let it get too extreme. The follow up the very epic In Waves, is an album that really took it up a notch. You can really hear the amount of work and passion in this album. The next album Vengeance Falls, is somewhat of an experimental album for the band. They chose to work with David Draiman of Disturbed (who is a big fan of Trivium), and the results of their work turned out to be quite interesting. The vocals on the album featured a more dramatic singing approach, which seemed to have given singer/guitarist Matt Heafy, better control and understanding of what to do. Their latest album and the one that got me to listen to them again, Silence in the Snow, is everything you would hope the band could evolve into. The songwriting, playing style, vocals, lyrics and all around performance, shows a band that has really come into their own.
Trivium has defied the critics and have finally matured into a band that can really deliver. Not that they couldn’t before, but with anything, time and growth can make things that much better. I highly recommend taking a second look at Trivium.
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