Trivium

The Silence in the Snow

BY Bradley Zorgdrager Published Sep 25, 2015

5
Trivium have a serious identity crisis, which is to say they don't really have much of an identity at all. After starting their career as an impressive metalcore band, they tried to be Metallica for a record before finding their sweet spot by incorporating some NWOBHM on Shogun. They should have continued down this path, but instead reverted to more boring metalcore for an album before Disturbed's David Draiman produced (and added colour to) their 2013 effort.
 
Outside of the occasional clunky breakdown, their latest, Silence in the Snow, fully steps away from metalcore for the second time in their career and, once again, the result is less than savoury. Once again, the band lean too heavily on classic heavy metal, rather than metal that is heavy in the modern sense; gone are the roars that add sonic weight in the present.
 
The LP is surprisingly back-loaded. Though the first half passes by with nary a noteworthy moment, the second half yields some buried treasure. "Until the World Goes Cold" and "The Thing That's Killing Me" make use of Matt Heafy's vibrato in the chorus, while "Rise Above the Tides" doesn't just stop above the water but continues to soar to the sky. "Breathe In the Flames," meanwhile, burns with an energy sorely missing on much of the album.
 
A transitory effort, Silence in the Snow serves its purpose by defining a path for the future and leaving behind the past, though it takes plenty of wrong turns in its journey. Here's hoping it's steady as Trivium goes on their next effort.
(Roadrunner)

Latest Coverage