Trivium (band)

Formation and Ember to Inferno (1999–2004)

The band formed in 1999. At his Lake Brantley High School talent show, Matt Heafy performed a cover version of "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica. Singer Brad Lewter noticed Heafy and asked him to try out for his band as lead guitarist. The pair went over to drummer Travis Smith's house where they played a rendition of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Impressed with Heafy's performance, they accepted him into the band known as "Trivium", which is a Latin three-way intersection they used to explain their music as combining metalcore, melodic death metal and thrash metal. Two weeks after Matt joined the band, Brad had left the band before performing. In mid-2001 Trivium parted ways with its bassist. Trivium asked Richie Brown from local black metal band Mindscar to fill in on bass duties until a full-time member could be brought in. A string of successful shows followed and then a search was conducted for a permanent bassist.

In late 2002, Trivium went into the recording studio to record its first high-quality demo disc. A copy of the demo was heard by German label Lifeforce which signed Trivium, and the band entered a studio to record its debut album, Ember to Inferno., Lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu joined after the recording of the album. In 2004, Paolo Gregoletto joined as the band's bassist, replacing Brent Young, before a tour with Machine Head. The album Ember to Inferno managed to garner the interest of Roadrunner Records representatives, who later signed Trivium to the label. The band then began writing songs for their major label debut.

Ascendancy (2004–2006)

In 2004, Trivium recorded its second album, Ascendancy, in Audiohammer Studios and Morrisound Recording in Florida. Produced by Heafy and Jason Suecof, the album was released in March 2005. The album debuted at No. 151 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 4 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Allmusic reviewer Johnny Loftus stated on Ascendancy, Trivium are a "ridiculously tight quartet, unleashing thrilling dual guitar passages and pummeling kick drum gallops as surely as they do melodic breaks and vicious throat screams." and Rod Smith of Decibel magazine praised "Smith’s impeccably articulated beats, bassist Paolo Gregoletto’s contained thunder, and, especially, Heafy and guitarist Corey Beaulieu’s liquid twin leads." The album was also recognized as the "Album of the Year" by Kerrang! magazine. Later in 2007 the band received their first Gold Record in the UK for more than 100,000 Sales.

In 2005, Trivium played the first Saturday set on the main stage at Download Festival in Castle Donington, England, credited by Matt Heafy as the gig that really launched Trivium on the world stage. Singles and music videos were released for "Like Light to the Flies", "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation", and "Dying in Your Arms". The videos for these songs gained rotation on MTV2's Headbangers Ball and "Pull Harder on The Strings of Your Martyr" has become one of the band's most well known songs and is the song that they usually close their sets with. In support of the album, Trivium played on numerous tours with well-known artists. The band opened for Killswitch Engage, Iced Earth, Fear Factory, and Machine Head, who were one of Heafy's largest influences. Trivium also played at Road Rage 2005 and Ozzfest.

Ascendancy was re-released in 2006 with four bonus tracks and a DVD containing all of the band's music videos and live footage.

The Crusade (2006–2007)

In April 2006, after a headlining tour with Mendeed and God Forbid as openers, Trivium entered the studio with Suecof and Heafy producing again. The band played the Download Festival for a second time, again on the main stage, with Korn and Metallica. Trivium released The Crusade in October 2006. Debuting at number 25 on the Billboard 200, the album sold over 32,000 copies in its first week of sales. Heafy's vocals had changed from the metalcore scream of the previous albums to actual singing. This new singing style, along with the band's thrash metal music, were criticised as sounding too much like Metallica, who was a major influence on the band.

The band supported the album by touring with Iron Maiden and Metallica, appearing on the Black Crusade tour with Machine Head, Arch Enemy, DragonForce and Shadows Fall, as well as headlining a European tour with supporting acts Annihilator and Sanctity and acquiring an opening slot on the Family Values Tour with Korn. Trivium was named the best live band of 2006 at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.

Shogun and departure of Travis Smith (2008–2009)

Trivium started working on a new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz in October 2007. Heafy stated he wanted to bring back the screaming that was found on Ascendancy, and the band said they chose not to work with Suecof again because they already recorded three albums with him and wanted to explore new ideas. Recording ended June 2008. In an interview with the UK's Metal Hammer magazine in May 2008, Heafy said that their new album was to have "more thrash influences, more screaming." He told Revolver magazine, "For the first time, we can't look at our songs and say who the riffs sound like. We're really making our own stuff and our own kind of music and art form, and that's exciting." In September 2008, Trivium released their fourth full-length album, Shogun. The album sold 24,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, and debut at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart as well as Number 1 in the UK Rock Album Charts.

Trivium toured extensively throughout 2009 in support of Shogun, with two headline legs of the US, a headline slot on the Mayhem Festival second stage, an Australia/Japan leg, as well as a conclusive UK run in March 2010. Throughout their headline runs they have been supported by Chimaira, Darkest Hour, Dirge Within, Whitechapel, Rise to Remain and Black Tide. They were also booked as a co-headliner for Australia's Soundwave Festival in February 2010.

Travis Smith unofficially left the band on the second leg of the "Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour" tour. On February 4, 2010, the band announced that Travis had indeed officially left the band and fill-in drummer, ex-drum tech, Nick Augusto, was replacing him. Augusto is a former member of Maruta and Metal Militia, in which he played with Gregoletto. The band has not yet stated the reason of his departure. While Trivium's relationship with Smith had deteriorated over the years, the band had no immediate plans to replace him when he announced in late October 2009 that he would be sitting out the 'Into the Mouth of Hell We March' tour to take care of "some personal business." It was not until after the band members started playing with Augusto on the tour that they realized the injection of new blood served Trivium well.

Trivium contributed to the God of War III soundtrack by recording the song, "Shattering the Skies Above". It is exclusively included on God of War: Blood & Metal, a digital EP that comes with the Ultimate Edition of the game and is available from the iTunes Store. The band has also recorded a cover of the song "Slave New World" by Sepultura. "Shattering the Skies Above" was also released exclusively to their fanclub (TriviumWorld) on February 12, 2010 and was released widely on February 15. The next day their Sepultura cover "Slave New World" was released as a free download for members of the UK via Metal Hammer UK. Both of aforementioned songs re-issued on their deluxe version of the album "In Waves".

In Waves (2010–2012)

In an interview with Guitar World, it was stated that for their fifth studio album, Trivium will move forward by looking back. The group will forgo the complex epic compositions, tricked-out, leads and seven-string guitars that characterized its past two albums. Trivium will take an approach similar to that of its second album Ascendancy (2005) by using uncluttered riffs, Drop C# tuning, and more straightforward solos. "When we did Ascendancy, we were writing specifically for the songs, not to show how well we could play," says frontman and guitarist Matt Heafy. "That wasn't exactly the case with our next two records."

In the bonus content for the November 2011 issue of Guitar World, Matt Heafy talked about why the band decided to record this album in Drop D♭ as opposed to Drop D. "For the whole record of 'In Waves' we're in Drop D♭, so it's kind of like (Ascendency), just a half step lower, and everything that we do from all of the albums is half a step flat. It's mainly for the vocals. (It's) not that I can't sing higher, it's just easier with the amount of shows we do."

On June 6, Metal Hammer revealed that the band have decided to entitle their upcoming album In Waves and that it would be released on August 9, 2011. On June 19, Trivium debuted two new songs live in Birmingham entitled "Dusk Dismantled" and "Black". On the June 28 "Dusk Dismantled" was released to TriviumWorld users only; it was released to general public on the 29th. On July 13, the premiere of "Inception of the End" was released to the general public on the website Hot Topic.

In Waves was released on August 2011 worldwide, and received generally positive reviews. Kerrang! described the album as "draws from the band's entire repertoire and shapes what it finds into a defining and definitive set". A special edition was released featuring the tracks: "Ensnare the Sun", "A Grey So Dark", "Drowning in Slow Motion", "Slave New World" cover and the single from the God of War III soundtrack "Shattering the Skies Above".

Trivium participated in a co-headlining trek with Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames in both Europe and North America. European support came from Ghost, Rise to Remain and Insense. North American support came from Veil of Maya and Kyng. Additionally, Miss May I and The Ghost Inside joined Trivium during the In Waves 2011 European tour. They also performed at the Metaltown Festival and Download Festival in June 2012. From July 13 to August 28, 2012, Trivium took part in Metal Hammer's "Trespass America Festival" headlined by Five Finger Death Punch with additional support from Battlecross, God Forbid, Pop Evil, Emmure and Killswitch Engage. On October 15, 2012, Trivium commenced a European headlining tour, supported by Caliban, As I Lay Dying and Upon A Burning Body.

Vengeance Falls and departure of Nick Augusto (2013–2015)

The band toured for In Waves until the end of the year. Matt Heafy also stated that they will start recording a new album in February 2013 and they already have around 13 demos made.

On January 14, 2013, Matt Heafy announced via Twitter that the band had entered the studio. It was later revealed that they hired David Draiman of the heavy metal bands Device and Disturbed as a producer. In an interview, David Draiman revealed to Thrash Hits that the title of Trivium's forthcoming sixth album is Vengeance Falls.

Vengeance Falls was produced at a studio in Austin, Texas and was mixed by Colin Richardson, who has previously worked with Fear Factory, Cannibal Corpse, Machine Head, Napalm Death, Slipknot and Bullet for My Valentine.

On July 23, 2013, Trivium announced a United States headlining tour, co-headlining with DevilDriver, with supporting acts After the Burial and Sylosis, which would reveal the first information of the new album. Vengeance Falls was released on October 15, 2013.

On July 31, 2013, the new song "Brave This Storm" was released for streaming and made available to download for free. On August 23, 2013, it was announced that Trivium would be playing at Australia's Soundwave Festival in late February and early March 2014. Trivium recorded a music video for the single "Strife" with director Ramon Boutviseth (All That Remains, For Today, Fear Factory) which was made available for free download to anyone who pre-ordered "Vengeance Falls".

On October 8, 2013, the album was made available for streaming on Trivium.org.

On May 7, 2014, it was announced that drummer Nick Augusto had departed from the band. He was replaced by Mat Madiro.

Silence in the Snow and departure of Mat Madiro (2015–2016)

In fall of 2014, guitarist Corey Beaulieu announced that the band would be working on the follow-up of Vengeance Falls in 2015, and that he hoped that the album would be released in Fall of the same year. Their song 'Strife' is featured in the video game Guitar Hero: Live.

On July 17, 2015, the band launched a website "snow.trivium.org" teasing the new album. They also changed their Facebook profile to the same picture as on the website, hinting at the release of the new album.

On July 24, the band posted a six-day countdown on their website. An unofficial picture surfaced online on July 29, suggesting the new album title to be Silence in the Snow and revealing three new featured songs: "Silence in the Snow", "Dead and Gone" and "Until the World Goes Cold". This picture also suggested the release date October 2, 2015. This information was confirmed on July 30 when the band premiered the music video for the title track once the countdown ended. On July 31, 2015, the band revealed the track list and the album artwork, and Silence in the Snow was made available for pre-order. On August 7, the band premiered two new songs, "Silence in the Snow" and "Blind Leading the Blind" during their performance at Bloodstock Open Air.

On August 27, Trivium premiered the music video for their third single "Until the World Goes Cold".

On December 5, the band performed at Knotfest Mexico, where it was revealed that drummer Mat Madiro has been replaced by Paul Wandtke. The band didn't make an official announcement until three days later, on their Facebook page. Paul Wandtke joined the band after Matt asked Dream Theater's John Petrucci for suggestions; John then asked Mike Mangini who recommended Paul.

Eighth studio album (2016–present)

In late 2016, guitarist Corey Beaulieu stated that the band would take most of the 2017 working on the new album. In an interview, bassist Paolo Gregoletto stated that new material will be more 'extreme' and that the band will return to featuring screaming vocals on the new album. The band was announced as one of the acts on the 2017 edition of Wacken Open Air. In early 2017, the band parted ways with drummer Paul Wandtke. His replacement Alex Bent, formerly of Battlecross, was announced on January 23rd.

Musical style

Trivium are referred to multiple musical styles such as heavy metal, melodic metalcore, metalcore, thrash metal, progressive metal. and groove metal.

Their style has evolved over the years from their earliest work on Ember to Inferno right through to In Waves, there is a clear thrash influence from Metallica and Machine Head, as well as some early In Flames.

Upon the release of their second album Ascendancy, Trivium were identified as melodic metalcore with strong elements of thrash metal, with the third track on the album “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” becoming a permanent fixture in the band's set lists and the rest of the album selling itself to gold status. Ascendancy was even featured as one of Metal Hammer’s Albums of the Decade. Later releases have marked changes in the band. The Crusade was seen as a major shift in musical direction due to the change in vocal style, namely the absence of screaming, and some of the melodies featured.

The Crusade is a much more thrash-oriented album and lyrical content was also different in direction, citing current affairs, such as the famous killings. In Autumn 2008, Trivium released Shogun, which has a heavy Japanese influence on its title track as well as the first single release "Kirisute Gomen", which translates to "authorization to cut and leave". Acknowledging Matt Heafy’s Japanese heritage, the album also was described more favorably as more their own style, as previous references to Trivium sounding like Metallica had been made on the back of The Crusade. The Crusade made sparing use of seven-string guitars, which were featured heavily on Shogun. Seven-string guitars once again returned on Silence in the Snow.

On In Waves, the band featured a sound closer to Ascendancy than The Crusade and Shogun and features their more melodic metalcore sound than thrash metal. The guitar tuning instead of being in Drop D, they went half a step lower to drop C#. The album has several songs, such as 'Built to Fall' or 'Dusk Dismantled', featuring solely clean vocals or screamed vocals from Matt Heafy. In Waves is their only album to feature blast beats.

Trivium's music mixes "soaring" and "crushing" riffs, dual guitar harmonies, double bass drum patterns and occasional blast beats and breakdowns that one can expect from the metalcore genre. Vocally Trivium combines both singing along with heavy screaming and growls.

Trivium is one of the notable New Wave of American Heavy Metal acts.

Influences

Trivium, and notably Matt Heafy, has stated that in general they are influenced by musical groups such as Opeth, Nevermore, Dream Theater, Emperor, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Armored Saint, Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Pantera, Dio, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Testament, King Diamond, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Pentagram, Killswitch Engage, Skid Row, Angra, Underoath, Martyr and Death.

In an interview with Roadrunner Records, Matt stated he was influenced by a whole range of music genres. Through each stage in his life, he's listened to all different types of music. As a child, he listened to pop punk bands like Blink-182, and Reel Big Fish. From there the list is endless naming bands like Pantera, Slayer, Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity, Mercenary, Krisiun, Dimmu Borgir, Rainbow, Dark Funeral, Anorexia Nervosa, Poison the Well, Hatebreed, Yngwie Malmsteen, Queen, Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever, Depeche Mode, The Beatles, and more.

Matt Heafy asserted that "without Iron Maiden, Trivium surely wouldn't exist."

Lyrical themes

Lyrical themes on the album The Crusade includes famous killings. "Entrance of the Conflagration" is about Andrea Yates's murder of her five children, "Unrepentant" is about Nazir Ahmad's murder of his three daughters and stepdaughter, "Contempt Breeds Contamination" is about the death of Amadou Diallo, and "And Sadness Will Sear" is based upon the murder of Matthew Shepard. Another common theme on this album is unity or "being united" with songs like "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" and "The Rising". Another lyrical theme that is noticed is in the song "Becoming the Dragon," which is based on the Japanese mythology story of a fish (or known as Koi in the song) climbing to Dragon Gate and transforms into a dragon and becomes kings over the nation.

Many of the songs on Shogun draw lyrical inspiration from Greek mythology. "Into the Mouth of Hell We March" and "Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis" detail the story of Odysseus choosing whether to face the giant whirlpool Charybdis or the six-headed monster Scylla. "He Who Spawned the Furies" is about the Titan Cronos devouring his children and castrating his father Uranus, creating Aphrodite and the Erinýes (the Furies). "Of Prometheus and the Crucifix" references the daily torment of Prometheus and alludes to crucifixion of Jesus, serving as a metaphor for enduring torment by the public for daring to contribute something new to society. "Like Callisto to a Star in Heaven" is written from the perspective of the nymph Callisto, detailing her rape and impregnation by Zeus and her transformations into a bear and into Ursa Major. "Down from the Sky" features a contemporary theme, chastising those who spark wars for profit or religion, and warning of nuclear holocaust.

Songs on In Waves appear to deal more with depressive themes, with Vengeance Falls and Silence in the Snow taking a similar route with themes about struggle and the evils of the world.

Discography

Awards and nominations

Kerrang! Magazine

Kerrang! Awards

Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards

World Music Awards

Underground Interviews Awards