Recorded with acclaimed producer Jason Suecof, Trivium’s sophomore album Ascendancy, which is over a decade old, remains a modern metal triumph even after all this time. Selling over 500,000 copies worldwide is not an easy task, to be sure. The album essentially bridged the gap between thrash metal and the modern metalcore that dominated Headbanger’s Ball and the metal scene in the mid-2000s, and Ascendancy is generally the band’s most revered record – or close to it, depending on who you ask.
There are plenty of reasons for this. With bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Chimaira, and God Forbid all blazing their own unique trails musically (not to mention the commercial dominance bands like KSE eventually had), Trivium surely felt they needed to do the same. Their debut record Ember To Inferno provided a solid foundation to build off of, and that record was all the more impressive considering vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy wasn’t even 18 at the time it was recorded.
Ascendancy, however, was a fully formed beast that catapulted the band to immediate success. The entire album contains a very strong body of work, with the more metalcore-oriented songs containing plenty of mosh-worthy sections – think “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr”. The album is a modern thrash metal fan’s dream, though. Taking into account how young the band was when recording it, Ascendancy is even more impressive, especially when you consider the band’s musical and songwriting chops on choice cuts like “Like Light To The Flies” (a strong contender for the band’s best song overall) and album closer “Declaration”, a 7-minute song that is as melodic as it is ambitious. Overall, the riffs and drumming are tight – particularly on the likes of the title track and fan favorite “A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation”. The latter is likely to make any fan of metal impressed, as it contains all the aspects of Trivium’s early work that was impressive. In particular, some creative riffing and one of the most effective guitar solos written by any band of the era help this song stand out.
While vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy’s vocals would develop more on later albums, they’re still quite good when you consider his (and the band’s) young age at the time. As a whole, Ascendancy is quite ambitious as well. Even the album’s more melodic songs (“Like Light To The Flies” in particular) contain a good balance between Trivium’s thrash influences and the metalcore style they were pursuing at the time. Compositionally, the album’s tracks feature impressive guitar solos and a variety of tempos that keep things fresh. “Rain” is a 4 minute banger that features impressive tempo changes – just when you think it’s going to border on speedy thrash metal, it settles into a more mid-tempo pattern. Then it culminates into a neat solo and breakdown that would be beyond many bands to put together. There’s even a ballad of sorts in the form of “Dying In Your Arms”, though it’s only three minutes long.
Overall, Trivium’s sophomore album is replete with technical proficiency and impressive guitar solos overall. Despite the band’s very young age at the time, their balance of classic influences with a more modern metalcore flair still remains one of the more interesting achievements of metal in the new millennium.
