Trivium @ The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

Trivium is a heavy metal band which formed in Orlando, Florida, United States in 1999. The band currently consists of Matt Heafy (vocals, guitar), Corey Beaulieu (guitar), Paolo Gregoletto (bass) and Alex Rüdinger (drums). Heafy is the band's only remaining original member. Trivium crosses multiple heavy metal genres such as thrash metal, alternative metal, groove metal, and heavy metal. Their style has evolved over the years from their earliest work on Ember to Inferno right through to In Waves. There is a clear thrash influence from Metallica and Machine Head, as well as some early In Flames. Trivium has stated that in general they are influenced by musical groups such as Metallica, Machine Head, and Iron Maiden. At his Lake Brantley High School talent show, frontman Matt Heafy performed a cover version of "Self Esteem" by The Offspring. Vocalist Brad Lewter noticed Heafy and asked him to try out for his band. The pair went over to drummer Travis Smith's house where they played Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Impressed with Heafy's performance, they accepted him into the band known as Trivium. After several shows at bars and local clubs, Lewter quit the band and Heafy took over his position as vocalist. In early 2003, Trivium went into the recording studio to record its first high-quality demo disc. A copy of the demo was heard by German label Lifeforce, who signed Trivium. The band entered a studio to record its debut album, Ember to Inferno. As time went on, Corey Beaulieu joined. In 2004, Paolo Gregoletto joined as the band's bassist to replace Brent Young, before a tour with Machine Head. The album Ember to Inferno managed to garner the interest of Roadrunner Records representatives, who later signed Trivium to a record deal. They then began writing songs for their major label debut. In 2004, Trivium recorded its second album, Ascendancy, in Audiohammer Studios and Morrisound Recording in Florida. Produced by Heafy and Jason Suecof, the album was released in March 2005. The album debuted at #151 on the Billboard 200 and at #4 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Allmusic reviewer Johnny Loftus stated on Ascendancy, Trivium are a "ridiculously tight quartet, unleashing thrilling dual guitar passages and pummeling kick drum gallops as surely as they do melodic breaks and vicious throat screams" and Rod Smith of Decibel magazine praised "Smith’s impeccably articulated beats, bassist Paolo Gregoletto’s contained thunder, and, especially, Heafy and guitarist Corey Beaulieu’s liquid twin leads." The album was also recognized as the "Album of the Year" by Kerrang! magazine. Later in 2007 the band received their first Gold Record in the UK for more than 100,000 Sales. In April 2006, after a headlining tour featuring Mendeed and God Forbid as openers, Trivium entered the studio with Suecof and Heafy producing again. The band played the Download Festival again, this time on the main stage with Korn and Metallica. Trivium released The Crusade in October 2006. Debuting at number 25 on the Billboard 200, the album sold over 32,000 copies in its first week of sales. The album was a critical success, with Andy Greene of Rolling Stone claiming "Nothing mars a good metal record like so-called harsh vocals"and Don Kaye of Blabbermouth.net stating The Crusade "is one of the best metal releases of 2006 and quite possibly the heavy music album of the year." On The Crusade, Heafy's vocals changed from the metalcore scream that was featured on the band's previous albums, to more singing on this album. This new singing style, along with the band's thrash metal music were criticised of sounding too much like Metallica, who was a major influence on the band. Trivium started working on a new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz in October 2007. Heafy stated he wanted to bring back the screaming that was found on Ascendancy. The band stated they did not choose to work with Suecof again because they already recorded three albums with him and they wanted to explore new ideas. Recording ended June 2008. In an interview with the UK's Metal Hammer magazine in May 2008, Matt Heafy stated that their new album was to have "more thrash influences, more screaming and more raptors. Possibly more screaming because of the raptors." He told Revolver magazine, "For the first time, we can't look at our songs and say who the riffs sound like. We're really making our own stuff and our own kind of music and art form, and that's exciting." In September 2008, Trivium released their fourth full-length album,Shogun. The album sold 24,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, and debut at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart as well as Number 1 in the UK Rock Album Charts. On June 6, Metal Hammer revealed that the band have decided to entitle their upcoming album In Waves and that it would be released on August 9, 2011. On June 19, Trivium debuted two new songs live in Birmingham entitled "Dusk Dismantled" and "Black". On the June 28 "Dusk Dismantled" was released to TriviumWorld users only; it was released to general public on the 29th. On July 13, the premiere of "Inception of the End" was released to the general public on the website Hot Topic. In Waves was released on August 2011 worldwide, and has received mixed reaction from both fans and critics. Kerrang! described the album as "draws from the band's entire repertoire and shapes what it finds into a defining and definitive set". A special edition was released featuring the tracks: "Ensnare the Sun", "A Grey So Dark", "Drowning in Slow Motion", "Slave New World" cover and the single from the God of War III soundtrack "Shattering the Skies Above". In March of 2012, Trivium bassist Paolo Gregoletto told Aussie magazine "Loud", “I think it’s going to be heavier. We’ve been talking about it a lot, just a lot of stuff, like where we want to go with the next record. I think we’ve definitely learnt to write better on the road and we’re learning that writing with a more focused vision musically is the way to go. Not just all of us just writing as many songs as we can. I think we’re all trying to be conscious of how much we’re writing, what we’re writing and really just spending the time with a smaller batch of songs, rather than writing like 40 songs and kinda being all over the place musically. But it’s definitely I think going to be a heavier record. “I mean, the last record, we had so much time; we had like two years and we wrote an album over the course of two drummers, so it was like, when we started writing we were in a different headspace than when we actually recorded. So we had a lot of material, which was great. But I think now that things have smoothed out on the personal side of things for the band, I think we can focus solely on just the musical vision of what Trivium is and really have no, outside of the musical stuff we have nothing going on that’s kinda like drawing from that." Trivium participated in a co-headlining trek with Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames in both Europe and North America. European support will come from Ghost and Rise to Remain and North American support will come from Veil of Maya and Kyng. They are confirmed to perform at the Metaltown Festival in June 2012. On January 14th 2013, Matt Heafy announced via Twitter that the band had entered the studio to commence recording for their sixth album, Vengeance Falls. The album was produced by David Draiman, famous for work in Disturbed and Device, and mixed by Colin Richardson in Austin, Texas. The first single from the album, 'Brave This Storm', was made available to download for free on July 31st of that year, and 'Strife' and 'No Way To Heal' were also released before the album came out on October 15th. The album featured three bonus tracks in a special edition; two originals and a cover of Misfits' Skulls and We Are 138. Vengeance Falls was criticised by some for Heafy's different vocal techniques employed on the album, with many rooting the change in the influence of Draiman's production. However, the instrumental prowess was praised by many. Incineration (The Broken World) features a bass guitar solo from Gregoletto, something that had not been seen on a studio album since Shogun. On May 7th 2014, it was announced that Nick Augusto left the band. His touring replacement was drum tech Mat Madiro. On July 30th 2015, Trivium released the title track from the upcoming record, 'Silence in the Snow'. The song had been written during the Shogun sessions, but had been omitted due to the band's thinking that it did not 'fit' Shogun's sound. The band performed this song and another, 'Blind Leading the Blind', for the first time during their headliner slot at Bloodstock Open Air in August of that year. The single 'Until the World Goes Cold' was released later that month. The Silence in the Snow album was released on October 2nd 2015. It featured no screamed vocals, possibly due to a vocal injury that Heafy sustained from the previous year, causing a tour cancellation. It also featured 7-string guitars for the first time since Shogun. The album is more down the vein of traditional heavy metal, and Beaulieu named Dio, Black Sabbath and Rainbow as influences. On December 5th, the band performed at Knotfest Mexico, where their new touring drummer, Paul Wandtke, was revealed. After Heafy asked Dream Theater's John Petrucci for suggestions, Petrucci asked drummer Mike Mangini, who recommended Wandtke. Wandtke remained in the band for around a year. On January 23rd 2017, Alex Bent, formerly of Battlecross, was announced as touring drummer. His first tour with Trivium was a set of dates in Europe with Sikth and Shvpes, which closed the Silence in the Snow era. Regarding the upcoming eighth album, Gregoletto stated that the new material would be more extreme and feature more screamed vocals. On July 26, 2017, the message 'VIII. I.' was teased on the band's website. On August 1st 2017, Trivium released the single 'The Sin and the Sentence' with a music video. This song would be the title track of the album. 'The Heart From Your Hate' was released as a single later that month. On October 16th 2017, the song 'Betrayer' was made available, a few days before the actual album release date on October 20th. The album was originally to be called 'The Revanchist' with neon and gold artwork, before Heafy's wife Ashley produced symbols for each song on the album. The song 'The Wretchedness Inside' is taken from a demo that Heafy ghostwrote for another band, that was never used, so the band reworked it for The Sin and the Sentence. The original demo was released on Heafy's food blog in 2014. This album is the first to contain gang vocals, and the first to have blast beats since In Waves. The Japanese version of the album contains a re-recorded version of Pillars of Serpents, originally from Ember to Inferno. Albums: Ember to Inferno (2003) Ascendancy (2005) The Crusade (2006) Shogun (2008) In Waves (2011) Vengeance Falls (2013) Silence in the Snow (2015) The Sin and the Sentence (2017) What The Dead Men Say (2020) In The Court Of The Dragon (2021) Bandmembers: Matt Heafy – guitar, lead vocals Corey Beaulieu – guitar, backing vocals Paolo Gregoletto – bass guitar, backing vocals Alex Rüdinger - drums Former members Brad Lewter - vocals Travis Smith - drums Brent Young - bass, guitar Nick Augusto – drums Mat Madiro - drums Paul Wandtke - drums Alex Bent - drums