Trivium - The Crusade (2006)^{Release ID: 5350}

After the modern metalcore sound of their first 2 albums, Trivium decided to go on a scream-reduced thrash metal Crusade with their third album. Apparently, the band wanted to reduce the screaming because they were never actually into metalcore bands and other bands that scream. Well, considering myself a fan of screaming/growling metal genres (metalcore, melodic death metal, etc.), if I ever start my own band, I would keep that style for as long as I possibly could. But I respect their one-time move from metalcore. This change has made some things better and a little more improving, but also made a few things worse and gone downhill. I'm a nice positive reviewer, but this album has some negatives worth pointing out.

A few songs have weaker energy in comparison to others. They still have pretty solid riffs and drumming but due to lack of aggression, they don't really catch so much fire. Like I said, the vocals are also not very aggressive with very few screaming, which isn't totally bad but isn't what I wished for because of my interest in the screaming. To make some matters worse, the clean vocals in a few songs are sort of bland and lack charisma.

The album kicks off with a tremendous technical-thrash pair, "Ignition" and "Detonation". The former segues to the latter, fitting well like a glove as kind of an 2-part 8-minute suite. "Entrance Of The Conflagration" is next, and it continues the technical thrash momentum, with faster riffs and a nice breakdown and solo. The upbeat motivator, "Anthem (We Are The Fire)," is OK but sounds too Iron Maiden-ish.

"Unrepentant" is once again executed in a faster thrash fashion, followed by the darker mid-tempo song "And Sadness Will Sear". Both of those songs, along with "Entrance Of The Conflagration" and "Contempt Breeds Contamination" are lyrically based on famous killings. As a Muslim, I'm familiar with the term "Friday prayers" (used in the lyrics for "Unrepentant").

Hinting at the next album's style, musically and lyrically, is "Becoming The Dragon", a Japanese mythology-themed thrasher about the transformation from a small koi to a genuine dragon. That lyrical theme made me think of the band Dragonforce from my old epic power metal taste (good times!). "To The Rats" balls out some chaotic thrash while having a more positive chorus. "This World Can't Tear Us Apart" is the melodic 7-string "ballad" of the album. Even though it's practically radio friendly, I'm surprised that wasn't a single. "Tread The Floods" has some diminished palm muted riffs, with a nice lengthy technical solo.

The last song in the album to describe a famous killing is "Contempt Breeds Contamination," which describes the death of Adamou Diallo, who was wrongfully, brutally shot by 4 police officers who mistook him for a serial killer or something. The chorus explains too obvious, specific, graphic detail: "The four protectors fired forty-one shots, Hitting him nineteen times, Searching the body there were no weapons found, He lies with all who die in vain" Seriously, it's as if part of the chorus was plagiarized from a Wikipedia article or CNN statistics, instead of poetically or emotionally expressing more interesting opinions.

The next song "The Rising" is a slower anthem rock tune, and it's not totally bad, but many other songs in the album are better. The 8-minute instrumental title track finale is extremely impressive, with many changes in riffs, keys, and tempo. It is the most progressive, Dream Theater-ish song on the album and by the band. The swept arpeggios in the solos are so incredible. It's one of the most complex songs to play on guitar or any other instrument. If you can play this perfectly well, you would be a true guitar master.

Overall, the album has some songwriting decent to be enjoyable. And while this album isn't exactly what I would recommend for Trivium fans following the metalcore circle, die-hard Trivium fans and Metallica lovers would definitely be pleased. The band's next album Shogun (2008) would really dominate this one and the first two! Stay tuned for that in the next review....

Favorites: "Ignition," "Entrance To The Conflagration," "Unrepentant," "Becoming the Dragon," "To The Rats," "Tread The Floods," "The Crusade"