Trivium - Silence In The Snow (2015)

1 	Snøfall 	1:28
2 	Silence In The Snow 	3:40
3 	Blind Leading The Blind 	4:25
4 	Dead And Gone 	3:46
5 	The Ghost That's Haunting You 	4:09
6 	Pull Me From The Void 	3:53
7 	Until The World Goes Cold 	5:21
8 	Rise Above The Tides 	3:54
9 	The Thing That's Killing Me 	3:30
10 	Beneath The Sun 	3:56
11 	Breathe In The Flames 	5:10
12 	Cease All Your Fire (Bonus Track) 	5:01
13 	The Darkness Of My Mind (Bonus Track) 	4:46

Mat Madiro - Drums
Matt Heafy - Guitars, Vocals
Corey Beaulieu - Guitars, Vocals
Paolo Gregoletto - Bass, Vocals 

Much has been made of the change in direction on Trivium's seventh full-length offering, influenced by the classic metal of Dio, Iron Maiden, etc. and eliminating the screaming vocals that seem to oscillate from focus to afterthought on other releases by the band. Many who see the harsh vocals as essential to the band's sound will undoubtedly find the move unconscionable; I, on the other hand, only like a couple of bands that employ non-melodic singing (actually, Shogun is one of the few albums with harsh vocals that I really like), so I welcome the change.

Going all-clean with the vocals is, in itself, not exactly a fix for the issues that have made Trivium fail to come up with a suitable followup to Shogun, because a) they still have to write good songs, which have been in short supply on In Waves and Vengeance Falls, and b) let's face it...nobody's listening to Trivium for the lead vocal quality. In fact, the idea of Matt Heafy trying to be Ronnie James Dio, in the abstract, isn't all that much sillier than, say, Lemmy trying to sing Crimson Glory songs.

Thankfully, the band here does come up with their most consistent set of songs aside from their 2008 masterpiece, and Heafy retains a sense of his limits. The song selection on Silence in the Snow is very consistent, and the use of only melodic vocals gives the band a far more unified sound than they've had on most past releases. This is the sort of big, punchy, riff-heavy album that Avenged Sevenfold wanted to make with Hail To The King, only Trivium manage to avoid the pitfalls that undermined that record (ironically, one of those being blatantly ripping off Metallica, something Trivium was accused of with The Crusade).

Indeed, except for the plodding "Until The World Goes Cold" and uneven closer "Breathe In The Flames," Trivium create a set of driving, surging, near-anthemic, riffy midtempo metal here that rarely misses. The album is well-produced, with new drummer Mat Madiro's drums sounding absolutely massive, Heafy and Corey Beaulieu's guitars with a nice array of tones that give the music a variety of different feels, and Paolo Gregoletto's bass has plenty of moments. There's more vocal harmonizing and interaction here than past releases, as well.

Highlights of the album include the opening duo of singles "Silence in the Snow" and "Blind Leading the Blind," which boast a surging immediacy and great riffing. "Dead And Gone" features an unusually gritty vocal performance from Heafy that evokes M. Shadows at times, "The Thing That's Killing Me" has more uptempo energy and great guitar work, and "Beneath The Sun" is another classic midtempo surger with strong vocals.

For all of these positives, Silence in the Snow is not a perfect album. For one, as much as Heafy has worked to improve his voice (and it does show throughout the album), his somewhat reedy baritone voice is never going to touch those of the heroes who inspired this album. He knows this, and so he's never straining into the fifth octave or anything, but his inability to lend that extra, heroic dimension to the vocals makes many of the tracks merely good rather than great. There are several songs where the the musical backdrop gets a little too subdued in the choruses, and so tracks like "Pull Me From The Void" aren't quite as anthemic as they should be. Further, the band is in concise, 3-5 minute formats throughout. On Shogun, the more progressive arrangements took some of the focus away from Heafy's vocals and let the band shine in other ways (most notably on the masterful title track), whereas here, the constrained format means the focus is more on the elements that the band is weaker in. By the end of the album, it gets a little tiring to hear Heafy singing in basically the same register, with similar tempos and similar guitar solo stylings throughout.

Ultimately, that means Silence in the Snow is an album of consistent quality, rather than having any massive high points. But the band is undoubtedly inspired and vital here, and they've created a very enjoyable set of songs that tap into their influences while still putting a uniquely Trivium spin on them. It's nice to hear Trivium in this context, a big step forward from their last two efforts and clearly the second-best album of the band's sneakily long career. ---GOOFAM, metal-archives.com

Termin trivium (z łac. oznaczający trzy pierwsze, obok quadrivium, z siedmiu sztuk wyzwolonych), w interpretacji członków zespołu, odzwierciedla muzyczne wariacje stosowane w ich artystycznej twórczości. Pochodząca z Florydy grupa, publikując najnowszy album Silence in the Snow, po raz kolejny pokazuje, że kurczowe trzymanie się jednego stylu nie jest ich najmocniejszą stroną.

Kwartet, znany ze swojej miłości do agresywnych riffów i growlowych partii śpiewanych, na ocenianym krążku odchodzi bardzo daleko od takiej stylistyki (w utworach "Until the World Gones Cold" i "Breathe in the Flames jest" znalazła się partia gitary akustycznej). Album wypełniony jest czystym i sterylnym heavy metalem. Jak powiedział w jednym z wywiadów gitarzysta Corey Beaulieu: "Bycie zespołem metalowym polega nie tylko na graniu ostro i agresywnie. Ciężar i moc rażenia można osiągać na różne sposoby". Po wysłuchaniu albumu, trudno się z nim nie zgodzić.

Płytę otwiera "Snøfall", symfoniczna i piękna kompozycja norweskiego muzyka blackmetalowego Ihsahna. To typowe wprowadzenie odbiorcy w album, nie trwające nawet półtorej minuty. Po jego zakończeniu słuchacza atakuje utwór tytułowy, zapowiadający zupełnie nowe brzmienie zespołu. Od razu słychać wspomnianą zmianę w sposobie śpiewania wokalisty i gitarzysty Matta Heafy’ego. Jego głos z jednej strony jest czysty, nieskażony deathmetalową manierą, a z drugiej potężny i przestrzenny. Kojarzy się z Mylesem Kennedym. Właściwie jedynym wyjątkiem od tej reguły jest "Dead and Gone", w którym lider Trivium, w niektórych momentach, wydobywa chrypę ze swojego gardła. Ciężko odpowiedzieć na pytanie, czy płyta miałaby taki sam kształt, gdyby nie fakt, że Matt jakiś czas temu zerwał struny głosowe i musiał spróbować wyśpiewywać dźwięki w inny sposób, ale z perspektywy czasu kontuzja ta, moim zdaniem, wyszła Trivium na dobre. Po raz kolejny dała kapeli okazję do spróbowania czegoś innego.

"Silence in the Snow" to wyprodukowany "na błysk", spójny album (warto wspomnieć, że jest pierwszym krążkiem nagranym z nowym pałkerem Matem Madiro, który dołączył do zespołu w 2014 roku). Miłośnicy gitary, poza ciekawymi i energicznymi riffami, znajdą też interesujące i melodyjne solówki. Fani starszego brzmienia grupy mogą poczuć lekki niedosyt. Ich głównym zarzutem zapewne okaże się wygładzenie brzmienia. Cóż, jak to mówią: opinia jest jak dupa - każdy ma swoją własną. A moja dupa… moja opinia, w kwestii "Silence in the Snow", jest jednoznaczna: to bardzo dobry album, który z przesłuchania na przesłuchanie będzie zyskiwał na swojej wartości. ---Kuba Koziołkiewicz, magazyngitarzysta.pl

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