EP Review: Trivium - Struck Dead
Reviewed by Tim Finch
Trivium are coming off the back of a hot summer, especially here in the UK, all topped by a triumphant Bloodstock headline performance that saw the band cement their reputation as part of the new generation of festival headliners. So where next? The answer, in the short term, is a ferocious EP that will keep all Trivium fans happy until the next chapter in bands expanding career unfolds.
The idea for this EP spawned out of rehearsals for The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour and what was originally one single expanded into a three track EP. The writing of which was a cathartic release for Matt Heafy who used it as a way to release from his personal struggles over the past year.
Opening with ‘Bury Me With My Screams’, the band waste no time in melting faces. A barrage of riffs hit the listener square in the face as the song hits the ground running. A track that will be familiar to many as a single released over the summer and debuted live at this years Bloodstock (where we spoke to Corey about it). There is a ferociousness to Heafys vocals, an energy that is stronger and more focused that we’ve heard before. The song flows between angst and more mellow segments in exquisite changes of pace that demonstrate just how far their song writing has come.
As Heafy screams “Pain is easier to remember” you’d be forgiven for thinking we’ve slipped into a Hatebreed album. The introduction to the second track, ‘Struck Dead (Pain Is Easier To Remember)’, has a distinct hardcore feel to it, but as the song builds the listener is thrown back in Trivium’s world of soaring technical guitar parts and pummelling melodies. Every so often the track switches back to those more vicious segments, keeping you on the edge of your seat, not knowing which way they will turn next.
The short EP closes out with ‘Six Walls Surround Me’, which flips the EP on its head, a soothing, stripped back acoustic guitar leads us for a full minute before the onslaught sudden continues. This takes the listener back to the more traditional Trivium sound, back to the origins of the band and their song writing style, a welcoming sound for those old school fans.
The EP may just fill the gap between albums and tours, but it demonstrates how the band are thinking, how their music is developing and gives us a peak behind the curtain of what may come next. And my god, this direction is good, album number eleven can’t come soon enough. For those in North American, off the back of The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour, Bloodstock and this EP, you are in for a real treat when they hit the road with Jinjer and Heriot later this week!
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