To say that Trivium’s album Ascendancy was a big deal is putting it mildly. In early 2005, nu-metal had more or less been replaced by metalcore as arguably metal’s most commercially viable subgenre, with bands like Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, and Lamb Of God bringing their various takes on metal to the mainstream.
Trivium was also one of those bands, and while they released their debut album Ember To Inferno a couple years prior, it wasn’t until the release of 2005’s Ascendancy that the band really broke out. Ascendancy was a skillful marriage of classic thrash metal and modern metalcore, with plenty of guitar pyrotechnics and melodic death metal influence to satisfy those who were more into heavy music. Tracks like “Dying In Your Arms”, “A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation”, and “Like Light To The Flies” are live staples to this day, and it almost immediately made the band a popular opening act. While the band would continue to gain traction with future records, and their more recent work (especially The Sin And The Sentence) has been awfully impressive, it’s hard not to see Ascendancy as a killer first impression for many who weren’t familiar with the band.
