Crusade, The [PA] - Trivium > Reviews > Trivium - The Crusade

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	It's different from previous albums  -  See Review
Disadvantages:	It's different from previous albums  -  See Review

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Since The Crusade was launched in the UK on 10th October 2006 I have read a number of reviews across a range of sites about this album and it seems to have split Trivium fans down the middle. A lot of fans were disheartened at the style of singing, choice of fact based lyrics and a new sound from the metal kings from Florida.

In the bands early days there were a number of changes in the original lineup, Corey and Paolo were relatively late-comers having arrived after a number of Ember's songs had been wrtten and performed. Months of playing together, the Trivium we all know and love pulled together Ascendancy. Similar sounding to Ember but edging away from the metalcore towards thrash metal, the band had produced an album that was, for such a young band, a masterpiece in the making. Even for Metal fans who don't like Trivium (aren't many of them around) everyone knows the ground breaking anthem "Pull Harder..."

So, the band was set to conquer the world, a number of tours across the states, Europe and Japan saw the rise of the band and they became a household name in the Metal world. Trivium had a number of influences along the way, as individuals and as a group but non more so influencing as the masters of metal - Metallica.

The Crusade was a first in many ways for Trivium, this was the first time each band member had a major influence in his own song, either musically or lyrically, the songs were each headed by a differenct band member with input from the rest making it a truly team built product. As the band reached the end of their Crusade 3 tour, they begun writing the album. As the writing progressed, so did the gigs. Download, at Donnington - UK, playing along side Korn and Metallica certainly helped concrete some of the tracks.

A lot of people liken the Crusade to the sound of Metallica, well, here's the truth. The band have had enough of screaming. They're in their early 20's, still boys and have the rest of their careers ahead of them and to achieve world domination they'll need their voices to get them there. The toned down-ness comes from a distinct lack of screaming on every track. Heafy has actually started to sing, and he's pretty damn good at it. The music is as good as ever. A mix of slow, fast, melodic and pure raw grinding strings combined with the super-fast limbs of Travis Smith give the album a sensational mix of musical variety.

As for the lyrics, well these are my interpretations (no-one elses):

1 - Ignition
Is about war, conflict, the wrong-doings of our nations. Political intervention causing more harm than good. About the death of the innocent who stand to bring peace.

2 - Detonation
Part 2 of ignition, a continuation of the same theme but all we hear about is fighting. What is actually causing the fighting? We don't know, all we hear is detonation!

3 - Entrance fo the Conflagration
A true story about a religous woman (Andrea Yates) who murdered her 5 children in their home. Drowning them in the bath, one by one.

4 - Anthem (We are the fire)
I think this one's meant to be a kind of anthem. A song on the album that will be used to promote album sales by being a single, getting the band out there again in the charts.

5 - Unrepentant
About Nazir Ahmad, murdering his 3 daughters and stepdaughter.

6 - And Sadness with Sear
Paints the picture of the murder of Matthew Shepherd. Attacked because he was gay.

7 - Becoming the Dragon
This is about the Coy Carp and it's journey to becoming the dragon, the problems faced along the way. This is defiantely a message from Heafy - one day, they will be the beast, DRAGON!

8 - To the Rats
Bullying - and Heafy's hatred of it? A quite frank approach to bullys - break every bone in their face.

9 - This world Can't Tear Us Apart
Opposite to Dying in your arms, this is a song about a love Heafy once had.

10 - Tread the Floods
Is a song about struggle, learning to tread the floods, to keep a head above water.

11 - Contempt Breeds Contamination
Amadou Diallo was killed by 4 plain clothed police officers. They shot at him 41 times, hitting him with 19 bullets. He was an innocent man.

12 - The Rising
A song I haven't really got into yet.

13 - The Crusade
The title track of the album, an instrumental that lasts for over 11 minutes. It covers a fantastic range of styles with solos, melodies, drum changes, 7 stringers you name it. A very technical track, a masterpice.

So, I like the album, in fact I love the album.. I listen to it daily, I can't stop listening to it. It is very different to the first 2 albums which is one reason I like it so much. Some dn't like change and think if something's going well, why change it. Well, all I can say is, well done guys. This is a truely awesome offering and I don't have anything bad to say about it. If anything, it makes the other albums sound better because you can be listening to Crusade, then switch back to Ember or Ascendancy and it's a totally different sound. Unlike most other bands where putting on an older album just sounds the same, but older.

Keep it up Trivium!