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Twenty years ago, heavy metal and the wider alternative scene was in rude health. Album releases for 2005 included releases from genre titans such as JUDAS PRIEST and BOLT THROWER. SYSTEM OF A DOWN went for the double album and wherever heavy fans looked labels like Roadrunner and Nuclear Blast were dominating the releases and independents like Earache Records were enjoying a hefty return. Download Festival merged with Ozzfest to deliver a mammoth three-day event. Download having never looked back from this and has continued with the same format ever since. What many of those attending this bumper weekend of riff worship did not realise was that they were going to be witnessing a music festival moment akin to those at Woodstock (the proper one, not the 1999 trauma inducing chaos) or even the 1970 Isle of Wight. Hyperbole aside, Saturday June 11 saw a young, hopeful band take the stage as the opening act. It was hot, it was dusty and it was utterly mesmerising for all those in attendance. Footage shows how a group of Florida based metal musicians barely out of their teens and still in boardshorts held the entire festival in the palm of their hand. This was to be the start of a monumental ride for TRIVIUM and the songs that sparked a meteoric rise all came from their second album Ascendancy
2003 saw the burgeoning sound of what TRIVIUM was to become with the release of their debut, Ember To Inferno. This initial release was the one and only to come via German label Lifeforce. The resulting buzz and critical acclaim led to the band quickly being signed by major label Roadrunner. It was to be a lifelong partnership with TRIVIUM continuing with them for the next 20 years. Work had begun on new material and it was clear that the quartet were working on something special.
As already mentioned, 2005 was not a destitute year for heavy releases. There were a host of albums that have since gone onto to be classics for both the artists that released them as well as landmarks in their own right. Ascendancy however, seems to shine like a beacon from this time. Looking back now it is as if the young band not only managed to tap into the zeitgeist of the time, but also harnessed the foundational elements of heavy metal and were not afraid to inject their own youthful exuberance. With a combination of NWOBHM elements, frantic thrash sensibilities, throat searing gutturals and contemporary techniques and stylistics, TRIVIUM assembled an arsenal of powerful songs from start to finish to deliver an album that has both outlasted many of its peers and stands as a blueprint for how it should be done.
With tracks such as Rain, with its brutal staccato introduction which gives way into a thrash led bruiser, through to melodic heavyweight Like Light To The Flies, TRIVIUM show a level of compositional skill and musicianship that belies their years. Similarly, the anthemic Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr and the soaring A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation highlight precisely why the band were heralded as the beacon for modern metal. They had a formula and with high octane riffs, exceptionally tight rhythm section crowd friendly choruses and virtuoso skill they had all the elements at their fingertips to execute their vision. Their youth, rather than being something to dismiss was welcomed as a breath of fresh air. While not quite the impact of the denim and leather glad teenagers of the NWOBHM era offering a counterpoint to their predecessors, TRIVIUM were all too happy to receive the accolades and wore the comparisons to their heroes as a badge of honour. The honesty of youth played heavily in their favour with both audiences and critics alike.
Hindsight has often shown that when band members themselves get into the production of their own music, it doesn’t always work. There is something to be said for having an external producer who can offer a non-biased opinion towards sound and compositions. The musicians themselves can be considered ‘to close’ to the creative process and unable to see the big picture. This can be especially true with younger musicians. They have not yet had time to develop an ear for what will work. With that in mind it is impressive that Matt Heafy had the confidence to step up and join established producer Jason Suecof. Suecof was already familiar with the band having been on hand for Ember To Inferno. However, the conviction of the band is such, that they need to have a say in the direction of their music across all creative elements. However one chooses to view it, it is not up for debate that the partnership of Heafy and Suecof saw to it that Ascendancy sounded the best that it possibly could.
Despite the common theory of artists having a creative struggle for their second album. Ascendancy is a clear example that this is not always the case. Eclipsing the debut, Ascendancy has since gone onto sell half a million units and at the time catapulted TRIVIUM to the dizzying heights that they would continue to enjoy for years to come. It’s a mark of the calibre of the album, that not only do several of the tracks still feature predominantly in latter day setlists to rapturous reception. TRIVIUM have recently embarked upon a co-headline tour with BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE playing Ascendancy in full. Old and new fans alike have flocked to the venues. Selling out the tour dates to catch a glimpse of the band execute these songs in the flesh. It’s safe to say that anyone who has caught these shows so far has not been disappointed. Twenty years has not dulled the likes of The Deceived or Drowned And Torn Asunder with audiences throwing themselves bodily into the sound conjured from these tracks. It is impossible to not get swept up in the vocal cord stretching chorus of Dying In Your Arms.
Any band one would care to name would give their last plectrum to write an album like Ascendancy. An album that so early in their career can turn a band into a household name. An album that contains tracks so powerful that despite their young age will enrapture a battle-hardened crowd at the hallowed Donington site on a hot, dusty June morning. More than that, an album that can still pull in an arena sell out crowd two decades after it’s original release. While those that saw it in its inception, knew that there was something special brewing. No one, not even the band themselves could have predicted quite the heights Ascendancy would achieve.
Ascendancy was originally released on March 15th, 2005 via Roadrunner Records.
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