If Slayer and Dream Theater opened a butcher shop, Trivium's "Ascendancy" would be a choice cut. A symphony of destruction blackened with melodic complexity, the second album from the Orlando, Fla., upstarts is a vulgar display of whiplash thrash metal that loudly echoes the past while plowing into the future.
"Everyone in the band is into metal, but everyone gets the melody from different influences like Queen, the Eagles and all different genres of music," says Trivium drummer Travis Smith. "I'm pretty much a fan of whatever Metallica touches. They could touch a pile of (junk) and I'd go out and buy it. I've been a fan since I was 8 years old and I'll be a fan for life."
Joined by lead guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu and bassist Paolo Gregoletto, Smith and Trivium are billed alongside As I Lay Dying, In Flames, GWAR, and other skull crushers when the Sounds of the Underground tour rumbles through Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Sunday. Don't be surprised if Trivium whips out the kill-'em-all cover of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" that appears on "Ascendancy."
"We've been jamming that song since we were a local band," Smith says. "Metallica is one of the reasons this band got started. We got lucky enough to go to Europe and do eight shows with them. They invited us on stage a couple times to sing vocals on (a cover of the Misfits') 'Die, Die, My Darling.' That was a dream come true."
These days, chilling with the sandman is a common occurrence for the Trivium troopers. Heafy and Beaulieu have been voted one of the best tandems of six-string shredders since the beastly heyday of Iron Maiden. As for Smith, his frenetic drumming could shuffle a stack of speeding tickets. Apparently, Trivium is just getting started. "The new album is gonna be on the shelves Oct. 10," Smith says. "It's gonna be called 'The Crusade.' If you think 'Ascendancy' is a kick-ass album, this one pretty much kicks it right in the teeth. People need a thrash-metal album, and we're gonna deliver. I'm still proud of ('Ascendancy'), but when people ask how we're gonna top it, I just look them right in the eye and say, 'Dude, you ain't seen nothing yet.'"
Trivium, meanwhile, has seen plenty while touring the world.
"Japan was unbelievable," Smith says. "It's almost sickening how perfect it is. I had a day off in Japan and we were walking the streets looking for something to do. They have a lot of bicyclers over there. We're walking down the street and I'm thinking, 'Dude, this place is too (expletive) perfect. I would pay to see one of these bicycle people crash into something.' I kid you not, dude, a minute later, these two ladies plow right into each other. I just lost it. It was, like, 'Thank God there is some flaw in the system.'"
Peddling head-on metal is something Trivium mastered as teens. At 24, Smith is the band's "old guy." To say Trivium got started early is like saying Lars Ulrich had a beef with Napster.
"We weren't even old enough to play the bars," Smith says. "We'd make some deals and they'd let us play at 17 years old or whatever. People got excited, because we were so young and we were bringing this classic metal to the stage."
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