Review by Saxy S for Trivium - In Waves (2011)

If I could describe Trivium's two decade career into a single word, if would have to be "eclectic". This band always seems to be pushing the buttons of what the members are capable of. This melodic metalcore group has spent the last two decades dabbling in thrash, progressive and alternative metal. And each subsequent album seems to improve on what the last got wrong, which is something that you don't see very often, let alone this frequently. Seriously, Trivium sometimes sound more progressive than the actual progressive metal bands like Dream Theater.

Which takes us to 2011's In Waves, easily the bands most successful album and the one that catapulted them to the front of the line when it came to the new flagbearers of metal throughout the 2010s alongside Mastodon. And what we end up getting is a return to form for Trivium; far more traditional in its melodic metalcore roots, but also implying many of the thrash and progressive traits fairly regularly. It is a very comfortable space for the band and it has some really good hooks. And man I wish I liked it more!

The major problem is the production, and it is a recurring problem throughout all of Trivium's albums. The lack of bass independence from the rhythm guitar, combined with the fact that the bass is hardly audible in the first place, make the tunes slog on for so long! It makes some really infectious hooks and grooves on "In Waves", "Watch the World Burn" and especially "A Skyline's Severance" and "Forsake not the Dream" feel bloated without any growth. And when the songs are composed in this way with heavy emphasis on the breakdowns, a full low end is key. None of the breakdowns feel justified, even with the drop tuned guitars.

It's a damn shame because once again, Trivium are at the top of their game when it comes to songwriting. Matt Heafy is a very good and frankly underrated singer. The way in which he is able to switch back and forth between clean singing and harsh screaming is impressive, combined with the fact that he does a lot of the guitar solos on this album as well. The background vocals provide a little bit more of a gravitas from both Corey and Paulo and even Matt himself. The guitar riffs are humongous and almost instantly recognizable and catchy on "In Waves", "Built to Fall", "Black" and "Forsake not the Dream". The songwriting has taken a significant step up from album like Ascendancy after the bands progressive pivot on their last album Shogun. In fact, some songs like "A Skyline's Severance" and "Caustic Are the Ties That Bind" have riffs that sound like they were leftover from the Shogun recordings, and reworked to fit into a more traditional melodic metalcore frame.

But as always, good songwriting can only help you so much when the sound of the album is this... formless. Without a sense of direction or a drive towards the end goal, In Waves just kind of treads water (pun intended) after a while. Paulo needs some independence in the tracks and has to be turned up, but unfortunately, that still hasn't happened almost ten years later. When they did, it was on the bands most contentious album, Silence in the Snow. Still, the riffs are iconic and a must for anyone looking for the quintessential melodic metalcore sound, or just the sound of the 2010s.