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The Crusade is an experimental album that saw the band take a different, and it was unsuccessful. In my opinion, this is Trivium's best work to date. This is a band that creates enormous amounts of hype and is insanely talented, and their work is influenced by some of the best to grace our cd players. I, on the other hand think this is their best. Better and more riffs, Matt's vocals have improved, the solos are great, but i want more. These guys are young, so they haven't quite found their true sound.
Shogun is basically an extension and a more heavy approach of Ascendancy. However, this band can do better. We saw more of their influences style (Metallica mostly) than their own. The sheer fact that they are so young is mind-blowing. Ascendancy is their most popular work and alot of people's favorite collection. This album shows more talent.
This is a band that's capable of being one of the best bands of the 21st century.
I noticed that the band changed styles slightly with this album. I am not sure if it is just natural progression or if the change was dictated by an outside source. (ie record labels). All in all I enjoyed the album and would recommend it to anyone looking for more from the the band.
Anxiously awaiting the band I came to see, Trivium took the stage to a crowd that no-doubt had the same sentiment I did, which was "hurry up and get the hell out of here".Well it didn't take any longer than the first few riffs to get excited for these guys. A lot of bands have lost sight of this today (which in some cases (Every Time I Die comes to mind) can actually be a good thing). Well it didn't take long to learn they only have one good song ("Welcome Home" is killer if you haven't heard it), but I digress. Check this one out, it's most definitely, as the Amazon reviewer claims, destined to be the metal album of the year.
The songs here have the raw power and punch to get you on your feet, making you want to rise up in some sort of mythical, Middle-Earth battle. (drumroll please) Kirisute Gomen, Down from the Sky, The Calamity (my fave), and He Who Spawned the Furies. Much to my disinterest at the time, I found out they would be opening up for a Slipknot show that I was not going to be missing. I had heard very little, in fact I think at that point I had only seen the "Entrance of the Conflagration" video and heard the critics speak (too much like Metallica yada yada). This isn't loud for the sake of being loud.
They're that good. Unfortunately, the set was plagued with technical difficulties (the lead singer's guitar stopped working a few times) and the bass player was a fill-in due to a dental emergency (seriously, you can't make that **** up). I just had that burning desire to watch them play once more. Well I'm used to being totally disinterested in opening bands, and strangely enough I was actually MORE excited for the second act on the bill, Coheed and Cambria. They literally NEVER stop moving on stage, and they have more energy than, well even Slipknot these days.
After that show I knew I had to check out their music, as much of it was quite rockin'. This is metal the way it used to be: good, tough, but with a sense of purpose in both the music and lyrics. It was still pretty cool.Anyways, ON THE ALBUM I'm reviewing here. Shogun is without a doubt Trivium's best and most mature effort to date.
Well, that's a little dorky, but you get the idea. The most awesome songs on this album are. Except it came out last year.
Just six short months ago I had a very different opinion of this band. But hey, that's no reason it can't be the album of THIS year too. That says a lot.
Some 5 months later I went back to see them on the Rockstar Mayhem Tour, and if they hadn't been on the bill, I probably would have skipped it. Those are in album order, by the way. Well, maybe it is.
crusade was a great change of pace for the band, despite what some fans think. trivium is one of those bands that totally divides the metal community. no one should ever give a band a good or bad review solely on the style of vocals. its almost worth the price of the entire album. i would easily put them up with the epic songwriting of bands like machine head or even more "prog" metal bands like mastodon.i've changed my mind a bit since i first reviewed the crusade a few years ago. this album rules." and all the bad reviews are like, "the screaming is back, this album sucks."i have some news for you. the good reviews are all like "the screaming is back.
metal bands are judged by more than whether or not the lead singer screams. i can listen to both with ease, and my opinion of an album depends on the quality of that singing and/or screaming, the intelligence of the lyrics, and the actual musical ability on display. i wonder if it's even worth my time to write another trivium review. listening to other bands, even good ones, who stick to simpler song structures and lyrical patterns, just accentuates the intensity that trivium bring to the table. there aren't many metal bands out there that are willing to take these kinds of risks and deliver this level of musical complexity.the first song on the album, kirsute gomen, is just incredible, with all the different directions the song goes in and the way heafy switches between clean singing and brutal growling. but every song is just as good, none of them boring or "filler," each one an epic metal masterpiece. and anyone with an actual appreciation of metal MUSIC, not just screaming-vs-singing nonsense, will realize the depth of their musical ability. shogun steers them back on track, but instead of going back to what they did on ascendancy, they pull out all the stops and blow everything they've done before out of the water.even comparing this album to anything "screamo" or "nu-metal" or whatever genre-we-hate-of-the-month is patently absurd and shows an ignorance of what those genres actually are.
some people view them as the best new band in the world, and others view them as lame pop sellouts or something.i love how most of these reviews hinge totally on the fact that matt heafy screams on this album like he did on ascendancy. it was an opportunity for the band to show their creativity and ability to go beyond the repetitive metal sound. that's just stupid.musically, trivium has been raising the bar ever since their first album. listening to shogun is like a religious experience, the music is so aggressively heavy and complex. it was a great showcase for their talent, but it was not meant to be a new direction. shogun is one of the best metal albums in the past ten years, easily.
As many others have said, it's a mix of Ascendency and The Crusade. As a true Trivium fan, I love this album. My only problem is that there are a few forgettable songs like 'The Calamity" but for the most part this is probably their best album to date. They really took their time on this one and made it into a masterpiece. The drums, guitars, vocals, and production on this album is great. My favorite song to this point would have to be the self titled Shogun track, its just perfect. If you have any doubts about buying this album, just do it, you'll be glad you did.
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