Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Trivium - In Waves (2011)
You know why I chose In Waves as my favorite Trivium album? Well during my original epic power metal taste a few years ago, I found the music video for the song "In Waves" on TV, then about a year later, the friend I told you about in my first forum thread introduced me to a heavier modern side of metal starting with this band. This album reminds me of how much I owe my friend for bringing my metal taste to a new era. But I can't simply say that this is my favorite album for my own personal reasons, that's so shallow! Fortunately, there's a lot of awesome stuff in this album that makes this Trivium album my ultimate favorite.
After the melodic thrash The Crusade and the progressive thrash metalcore Shogun, In Waves marks the band's return to the metalcore roots of their Ember to Inferno and Ascendancy. This is also their first album with drummer Nick Augusto, who replaced original drummer Travis Smith (not to be confused with heavy metal cover artist Travis Smith). Augusto has brought the drumming in Trivium to higher, faster levels. Instead of all songs having a balance between singing and screaming, a few songs have only screaming while a few other songs have just singing with very little screaming. I love both vocal styles and that's a new and less boring strategy (not that it was ever boring).
"Capsizing the Sea" is an atmospheric and well chosen intro, getting listeners pumped up for what comes next. The first actual song, the title track, is my favorite one from this album. It starts off with an Ascendancy-like metalcore breakdown with Matt Heafy repeatedly screaming the name of the song, then it leads to a melodic Crusade-like chorus. There's also a complicated solo in the middle, but other than that, the riffs are simple yet catchy. That's what I like!
“Inception Of The End” is a metalcore song, beginning the speedy shredding and going beyond their promised energy. The lyrics have a lot of epic singing and awesome screaming that already brought them to fame. Augusto really puts out more depth in his drumming than a regular everyday drummer, bolting through never-played-by-the-band-before blast beats. All that alone establishes Augusto as the perfect drummer for this album and the next one. "Dusk Dismantled" continues the heavy path, this time even more furious, darker, and containing only screaming.
The track “Watch The World Burn” branches out beyond their usual sound of thrash metalcore. It still keeps that style but it's more progressive track. The song has pretty much everything from heavy riffs and a progressive bridge with epic singing and screaming vocals to a melodic thrash chorus. Once again, songs like "Black" and "Built to Fall" have mainly clean singing with just a small amount of screaming. However, "A Skyline's Severance" is a polar opposite, only containing screaming, but is another song that hearkens back to the early days of Ascendancy. The build up goes from soft to fast and heavy in no time flat, before going straight into the first verse. Heafy's screaming is deeper than before, getting to the point of growling. The guitar work and drumming is really standing out to their very best. Halfway through, the tempo switches gear and things get more powerful with aggressive guitars and verses, and epic outstanding solos. "Built to Fall" is an awesome epic song that is still a good choice for a single.
"Caustic Are the Ties That Bind" Is another epic song and the only one in the standard edition to not be in the drop D-flat tuning the band used throughout the album, or at least the only one not in the D-flat minor key. The band once again tries something new with a softer uplifting bridge and solo after the powerful verses and chorus. "Forsake Not the Dream" once again unleashes the heavy drums and powerful guitars. It's a little inconsistent and repetitive, but still a better song nonetheless. "Chaos Reigns" is another strictly screaming song that still reminds me of old-school Trivium.
After all that chaos from previous songs, "Of All Those Yesterdays" is a calm and little more progressive half-ballad where they were able to develop a slightly melancholic atmosphere. Then the song fades into "Leaving This World Behind", a dark ambient outro with the same melody as the post-solo bridge in "Dusk Dismantled". Heafy shouts a politician/preacher-like speech and repeatedly says "I’m leaving this world behind, making up for all our crimes" with his voice rising up to screaming, then the outro intensely builds up before coming to a sudden stop. That abrupt ending left me bothered and confused but doesn't affect the rest of the album. If you have the special edition, you get to hear some bonus tracks put throughout the album, including the acoustic-folk interlude "Ensnare the Sun", really good songs "Drowning In Slow Motion" and "A Grey So Dark", and drop-D-infused kick-A tracks "Shattering The Skies Above" and Sepultura cover "Slave New World".
After hearing this album, I now see what an awesome astonishing album it is, and it's nice to once again hear the band's original metalcore sound along with a small bit of their epic progressive side. This album has surely brought in new fans and kept longtime fans. Anyone listening to metal for the first time? I highly suggest starting with this album. Trust me, you'll like it. Trivium, you da best!
Favorites: In Waves, Inception of the End, Dusk Dismantled, Watch the World Burn, A Skyline's Severance, Built to Fall, Forsake Not the Dream