Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Trivium - In Waves (2011)

My first venture into Trivium and melodic metalcore in general hasn't been an all round success. That isn't to say that this record is awful but I do have to temper the tone of my review with the caveat that this style of music doesn't appeal to me on so many levels. In the main my tastes are more extreme and so this combination of clean vocals and frenzied bursts of energetic riffing that lacks enough bite for my ears is always going to present a challenge.

Let's start off by acknowledging that I completely understand why people enjoy this album and indeed the band overall.  There's so much memorability here it quickly becomes infectious and if this oppositional attitude that the band chooses to deliver its music via is your bag then your itch is most definitely scratched with this.  There's not enough hours in the day for me to ever get Watch The World Burn out of my head before the bedtime.  This stickiness to the record is one its major successes; that and the fact that this song writing literally sings to the soul of its disaffected audience.

The problem I have is that the record is so consistent it feels almost programmed and processed lacking any real depth or soul.  For all the aggression and obvious passion that sits behind the music it leaves no emotional footprint on me as a listener.  There's no feeling that Trivium share anything with me and therefore although I don't exactly come away empty handed, I don't have much to show for my effort of listening.

I don't deny it has mass appeal but it is not a record that holds any lasting appeal for little old me.