Trivium - Shogun [Album]

Roadrunner

September 19, 2009, 12:41 PM

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Trivium are a peculiar band. With the hidden gem that was 'Ember to Inferno' and the stunning breakthrough album 'Ascendancy' behind them, the Floridian 4-piece looked to have the world at their feet, and an almost certain path to the upper tier of the world of heavy music.

However, as is so often the case with upcoming bands [no matter what style of music they take], it all went wrong. 'Ascendancy's follow-up album 'The Crusade' was a commercial disaster, the majority of Trivium fans left furious at the bands decision to drop the aggressive, screamed vocals and anvil-heavy instrumentals to take on a more streamlined, contemporary thrash metal sound, with lead vocalist Matthew K. Heafy suddenly adopting a vocal style with more than a slight nod to the great James Hetfield of Metallica fame. 'The Crusade', in short, was received as roughly as My Chemical Romance would be as a support act to Slayer.

All of this puts Trivium in somewhat of a pickle. Sticking to their guns and keeping the thrash-orientated sound that defined 'The Crusade' would be likely to fall flat rather like it's predecessor, but a simple return to the sound that made them on 'Ascendancy' would risk seeing the band labelled sell-outs, a slave to the $ sign. The band's answer? Do neither of the above, but do both at the same time. Rather than go all-out with one of the two ways the band had available to them, Trivium have mixed the two sounds they are known for, to somewhat unexpected and largely very impressive results that render 'Shogun' a rather pleasant surprise.

First single 'Down From the Sky' is, as expected from a first single, the perfect example of this 'merging of the sounds' Trivium have undergone. An intro giving what sounds like a nod to 'Living On the Edge' passes onto a verse which sees Heafy using the trash-style vocals that made 'The Crusade' so notorious, however even these seem slightly beefier and more convincing. Suddenly, unexpectedly, these give way to a thundering riff with the screams of old all over it. A clean-sung, stunning chorus quickly follows, giving the listener a taste of everything that makes up Trivium's sound in quick succession. A heavier-than-thou breakdown both midway through and ending the song stamp even more intent on an already stunning song.

From here, Trivium carry on as well as they start. 'Kirisute Gomen' introduces itself with a rather prog-influenced introduction, before giving way to a succession of crashing riffs, both thrash and death metal influenced, again with both cleaner and flat-out screamed vocals sounding almost schizophrenic over it all. A very unexpected but very nice shock indeed.

A major surprise about 'Shogun' is that the album has no real lull, that it is consistently strong throughout. 'Insurrection' is potentially the heaviest all-round song Trivium have put their name to thus far, a hugely more convincing rendition of the thrash sound that they attempted on 'The Crusade', made truly special by the pause for breath halfway through, followed by an interlude which can only really be described as the band really convincingly attempting death metal. 'He Who Spawned the Furies' is equally as impressive, a much slower and brooding song by Trivium's standards with a frankly brilliantly constructed/sung chorus paving the way for the most brutal passage of music the band has recorded. This band is a long, long way from the Trivium that so nearly lost it all on 'The Crusade'.

All of this, however, is merely a support act for the main star, being the album title track, 'Shogun'. A sprawling, 11-minute epic without once feeling overly long. It truly epitomises everything that Trivium are about, even adding a new element to the band with a simply beautiful acoustic interlude midway through the track complete with a blues-influenced guitar solo almost reminiscent of Brian May. 'Shogun' is a stunning song, and one that anyone wishing to hear what the band are about should definitely give a listen to.

As lofty praise as the album has received, the case is that as with every album, 'Shogun' is not without flaws. Whilst not weak tracks, 'Throes of Perdition' and 'Like Callisto to a Star in Heaven' feel too familiar to others on the album, giving for the first time the slightest of impressions that these two may be the closest to 'filler' on the album. The final criticism that could be aimed at the band is that some of the riffs on 'Shogun' are maybe slightly too much in debt to their influences, however this is merely nit-picking and something that could be aimed at any band today.

'Shogun' is a simply brilliant creation, a perfect mix of the two styles that Trivium are known for without leaning too far to either side of the fence, and one that will definitely put Trivium one step closer to becoming, in their own prophetic, almost career-ruining words, 'the biggest band in rock... as big as Metallica.'

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