Trivium fails to find its identity on Vengeance Falls

Trivium

Vengeance Falls

Grade: C+

Sounds like: A Disturbed tribute album

Though an incredibly gifted group of metalheads, Trivium has a habit of making mediocre albums. Ever since releasing Ascendancy in 2005, one of the best heavy metal albums of the 2000s, the quartet has struggled to maintain an identity of their own — to the detriment of their music.

Where the brilliant In Waves left the band in a charmed position and gave hardcore fans reason to be positive, their latest release, Vengeance Falls, does not live up to its hype. The album falls victim to that most classic of Trivium errors: letting an outside influence define their sound.  

Sonically, Vengeance Falls has an oddly muted quality to it, as if the entire album has been tuned a half step too low. It sounds quiet and a bit flat — unwelcome qualities on a heavy metal album. What’s worse, lead singer Matt Heafy’s clean singing voice has changed, bearing more than a little resemblance to the voice of producer (and Disturbed lead singer) Dave Draiman’s rhythmic delivery and gritty, mid-range growl. 

This is not the first time that Heafy has altered his vocals to resemble another singer’s. When he’s being himself, Heafy’s voice is one of Trivium’s better musical assets. To simply say that Draiman’s production and vocal influence is heavy-handed would be an understatement. Vengeance Falls is positively saturated with his influence, resulting in an album that sounds like a blend of Trivium and Disturbed. 

Fortunately, Trivium is simply too talented for any of their lesser albums to be considered total failures, and Vengeance Falls is no exception. The guitars are dense and challenging throughout, the best example being “Brave This Storm,” the album’s strongest track by far. Here, the main riff is reminiscent of vintage Anthrax or Slayer, harkening back to Trivium’s thrash metal roots that made Ascendancy and In Waves great. “Strife” is a strong, though problematic track that suffers from Disturbed-esque vocals and could benefit from a faster tempo. “Through Blood and Dirt and Bone” is where Draiman’s production is most profoundly felt. On a positive note, the covers of The Misfits’ “Skulls” and “We are 138” (available on the special edition) are delightful and, sadly, seem to be the only examples on the album of the band having fun.

Predictably, the guitar solos and duets Heafy and lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu are as brilliant and technical as ever, showing their musicianship for what it is. There are few bands out there today who are as talented as Trivium, which makes their lack of consistency all the more frustrating. 

Draiman is fast becoming a hot choice for bands across the heavy metal spectrum, but everywhere he goes, his personal touch is hard for listeners to miss. On his first production effort, Megadeth’s Super Collider, Draiman engineered their classic thrash-metal sound to be more akin to a Nickelback and Disturbed medley, making the whole album painfully unrelated to Megadeth’s classic work. 

Regrettably, he’s done more or less the same thing on Vengeance Falls. When clicking, Trivium’s neo-thrash riffs mesh well with their clean vocals and blistering solos. This usually results in a song that is as technically sound as it is varied and interesting. The music of Disturbed, on the other hand, revolves more around one or two guitar hooks and an occasional solo. It is formulaic and predictable, and even worse, it shows up in droves on Vengeance Falls. Draiman has taken good riffs, executed with Trivium’s signature skill and ferocity, and compressed them into a repetitive daze.

There is no escaping it: Draiman ruined this album.

Fans and critics clamor for Trivium to hone and stick with their own identity, but, if Vengeance Falls is any indication, Trivium still doesn’t know what exactly that is.