Trivium Album: “The Crusade [PA]”

I tried to enjoy this CD -- I really did. Despide never being a fan of the nasal emocore vocals, I thoroughly enjoyed Trivium's last CD (Ascendancy) and was anticipating this one like no other.

However, when I read an interview in which Matt Heafy said that Trivium's goal was to "become the next Metallica", I thought it was a simple metaphor: They wanted to be the band that carried heavy metal to new distances and became almost synonymous with the genre, right? Unfortunately for me (and for my expectations), I was wrong. With this CD, Trivium has sort of fallen off the radar for me. Granted, the CD has their signature shredder guitars and vocals...but it sounds so much like an early Metallica release (with lower mid levels) that I'm terribly disappointed in the guys in Trivium.

When they said that they wanted to be "the next Metallica", I didn't think they meant they were going to become, for all practical purposes, a Metallica cover band. Although the songs are originally written by Trivium, everything from the drum rhythms to the overly-mixed vocals is reminiscent of early Metallica, so much so that I begin to wonder what creativity Trivium has left.

These guys really had a lot going for them -- an original sound, blazing fast guitars, and new melodies. I'm giving "The Crusade" two stars because I think the music sounds good, up until you realize how painfully wannabe it is. Now it's trying to be "Ride the Lightning" all over again...sadly, it comes across more as Trivium's own rendition of "St. Anger" Buy it if you're a Trivium fan, or if you like the singles off the CD. Otherwise, stay clear of this one and cross your fingers that they will find their individuality again.

The opinions on this band are pretty much split. People either love or hate them. I've seen them live, and they are a great live band. That said, this album is lacking, like the other two.

We get it, you love Metallica. Even though the previous album had too much core to be good for it, at least they combined core and thrash riffing/soloing, which was an interesting combo. Here, though, they're trying to bring back Bay Area Thrash and totally lose the core, but they don't manage either. Most of the time Heafy sounds like a cheap Hetfield imitation, and the rest of the time he's utterly forgettable. It's great that he's stopped the outright core singing, but he can't quite get over it. A lot of the choruses would fit on Ascendancy. The solos are good and more fitting than on Ascendancy but too short (I think another reviewer mentioned that). A lot of the riffs are thrashy and bring to mind Bay Area, but they're not distinctive enough. I listened to this album at least five times, and I honestly can't remember any one riff to distinguish the songs. The lyrics are pretty godawful most of the time, but there are plenty of bands that have idiotic lyrics but still incredible albums (Priest comes to mind). The drumming in the previous album was one of the better parts: on here, it's pretty generic and forgettable. In the tradition of Ascendancy, there's one terrible song on here (This World Can't Tear Us Apart) that seems designed for radio play. The rest are nice to listen to, at least the instrumentation, but aren't memorable and don't expand any musical territory at all.

Speaking of instrumentation: the last track. There are plenty of bands that could pull of instrumental tracks if they tried. Some of the songs on Ascendancy would've been better without vocals. This one, though, doesn't work. It's just a riff collection. There are plenty of nice riffs, but they don't flow together at all. This is a great example of how not to do a great instrumental. For opposite examples, see Upcoming Devastation by Destruction, Inquisition Symphony by Sepultura, Call of Ktulu by Metallica, Cosmic Sea by Death (a little more experimental but still illustrates the point), etc. These are how instrumentals should sound - coherent songs that develop ideas they present, just lacking vocals.

I spent a lot of time talking about what's wrong with this album. Even so, there's more good than bad here. Even if the band isn't doing anything new, it's nice that they're bringing back some of the Bay Area sound. If nothing else, kids that hear this may check out classic Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Overkill, etc, and it will have done some good. It definitely doesn't deserve all the hype from magazines and such, and these guys aren't the saviors of metal. It's a fun album to listen to, but lacks anything to really set it apart.

okay this is going to be short and sweet! If you like any newer band thats metal/hardcore/hard rock or anything along those lines then you like older Metalica. Yes Matt heafy's voice is not as hard, yes he sounds like 87' Hetfield.......so whats wrong with that. This record is solid all the way threw. I definitly like the last record better but this one is a breath of fresh air. remember you dont have to scream to rock.....Rush....Journey......Boston on and on and on.

After 'Ember to Inferno' and 'Ascendancy', I was expecting great things from 'The Crusade', but felt a little bit let down. The vocals were the main issue for me. The mix of loud harsh vocals and calm melodic vocals are what made me fall in love with the two previous CDs, but the majority of the vocals in this album sounded Metallica-ish to me, like newer metallica, not good metallica. There are still some great tracks on it, but if I had to give one of my Trivium CDs back, it would be this one.

This cd is really a well... i dunno i mean its an obvious change. Weird how if this cd was released 20 years ago when thrash metal bands like metallica, megadeth, testament ect were just coming out, Trivium's "The Crusade" would have been praised with no poor reviews in site. But the 1980's were some time ago and in the new age of heavy metal the metal-core scence has taken full force. So Trivium's 3rd release is a real depature from their previos break through album the ascndency (which i absolutely loved). The Crusade sounds little like previous Trivium work but hey thats ok. Trivium took a nice approach on old school thrash metal. They have some nice solos which maybe some people might not agree with but the last song 'the crusade' which i think is all instrumental is a great showing of the talent the band has. All the tracks are rather nice but like i said different from previous work. Only true complain like everyone else is that the lead singer was sounding just a little too much like James from old school metallica days. Some songs as I listen remind me of ".. And Justic For All" in how the vocals were sung. So really aside from that complain which is why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5, the album is really a nice step... or well experimental album depending on what Triviums next release is. People that love thrash metal should really buy this album and trivium fans should buy this for something different in todays metal scene.