TRIVIUM - In Waves
August 30, 2011, 13 years ago
(Roadrunner)
Five albums in and TRIVIUM are still getting stick for their modern metal/”software” metal sound. But the operative is metal, with very little besides the compressed drum sound or the dual clean and metalcore-ish vocals of Matt Heafy sounding particularly commercial. But the guys have stripped down and gotten more immediate, tracks like ‘Watch The World Burn’ and the anthemic title track capturing the mosh madness of the band’s earlier material, while ‘Black’ demonstrates the band’s superiority at whacking off riffs left and right that are better than yours. Fact is, Trivium have excelled because they seem to consider the balance of ear candy to thrashing out carefully, they understand that clutter ain’t good, and they have a pile of talent. I guess we have to face up to the fact that there’s way too much computer to front-edge metal-making, but heck, at least with In Waves it’s all pure metal instrumentation that’s snapped to grid, and no trendy treatments to drums or to vocals and no keys or synths in sight. In any event, In Waves should please the fan base, one that perhaps yearns for a less challenging LAMB OF GOD, or a less precious and trendy BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE.
