Trivium are a band who have never been afraid to do things their own way. Following the runaway success of ‘ascendancy’ (and the attendant criticism which seems to come hand-in-hand with such success) the band pulled an abrupt U-turn to deliver ‘the crusade’, a fine album which was, nonetheless pilloried in some quarters for the overt emphasis on clean singing. Personally, I enjoyed ‘the crusade’ and felt that it contained many belting tunes and a fine vocal performance, but I was not sorry when the band unleashed one of their heaviest albums to date in the outraged ‘Shogun’ and I equally enjoyed the bolder, more experimental ‘In waves’. In contrast I felt ‘vengeance falls’ to be one of the weakest entries in the band’s canon and I was curious to see how the band would follow it up.
Interestingly ‘silence in the snow’ looks set to be another divisive album, but to my mind it certainly improves on ‘Vengeance falls’ although it does not reach the heights of, say, ‘in waves’. A much more melodic album that might have been expected, ‘silence I the snow’ tones the screaming down to nil, ramps up the harmonies and sees the band delivering a surprisingly commercial set. That’s not to say that Trivium have gone soft exactly, the riffs are still present and correct and there are a number of suitably heroic solos, but there’s a more relaxed vibe hanging over ‘silence in the snow’ and an unfortunate tendency to adhere to a template that makes the album feel longer than it actually is. Opening with a guest spot from Ihsahn who provides the moody intro that is ‘Snofall’, the album gets off to a moody start. Ihsahn’s orchestral work is spectacular, although sadly brief, recalling the eerie score Jerry Goldsmith wrote to Alien, and it feels as if it should preface something truly grand. What follows, however, are the crushing chords that introduce the taut groove of the title track. Making no secret of their melodic ambition, Matt Heafy’s voice rings out loud and clear over the mix whilst the harmonies that pile up over the chorus take the pop influences that were scattered throughout ‘in waves’ and recast them in the glare of huge neon lights. There’s a strong classic rock feel here with influences from the likes of Priest added to the mix, although the riffs remain as potent as ever. ‘Blind leading the blind’ kicks off in more familiar thrash territory, although the harmonised solo that soon ripples out over the riff is once again firmly stuck in Priest territory, and the band cram even more vocal lines into the mix on this one. One of the album’s heavier tracks, ‘dead and gone’ has a cracking riff that grinds and scrapes whilst Matt delivers a grittier vocal line, although the lure of a memorable melody is too much for the band to resist on the chorus. Nonetheless, it’s a cracking tune with a strong hook, as are the majority of the tracks on offer here. ‘The ghost that’s haunting you’ is another track that cooks up a mighty riff on which to cruise, but there is a sneaking feeling that the album is falling into something of a rut, with each successive track offering little other than a variation on a theme whereas albums like ‘in waves’ offered a much greater variety without losing cohesion.
Emphasising that classic rock feel even more strongly, ‘Pull me from the void’ is led by some neat guitar work before kicking into a bit of a gallop for the verse. The strong melodic vocals are exposed as being both a blessing and a curse here, as the band’s palette of melodies is shown to be somewhat limited and you start to realise that the problem with the clean vocals is that they are all, ultimately, rather similar to one another. Up next is an album highlight in the slower, sinister ‘until the world goes cold’ which juxtaposes a crushing lead riff against a quieter verse with some success. However, even here, a massive, lighters’ aloft chorus is brought to bear and the atmosphere falters. A fast-paced, melodic rock number with a sledgehammer riff, ‘Rise above tides’ operates in similar territory to the likes of Wovenwar (as indeed do most of the tracks on offer here) whilst ‘the thing that’s killing me’ offers up some blistering fret work. ‘Beneath the sun’ offers a touch of variety, with minor key harmonies and taut riffs bringing to mind a collaboration between latter-day megadeth and Alice in chains. ‘Breathe in the flames’ is a heavier beast that recalls the grittier melodicism of ‘the crusade’ with its thrash architecture and powerful vocal delivery. It’s back to the formula for the melodic ‘Cease all your fire’ and the album concludes with the similarly delivered ‘the darkness of my mind’.
Overall Trivium deserve credit for going their own way, and it may be that the band’s fans will be more accepting of this melodic outing than the previous one, the much maligned ‘the crusade’. However, ‘silence in the snow’ is a flawed record. The musicianship is of typically exacting standards, but the music itself relies too heavily on the same bag of tricks and a certain fatigue sets in when you start to appreciate that every song more or less follows the pattern of heavy opening riff, melodic verse and massively harmonised chorus. There are plenty of enjoyable moments on ‘silence in the snow’, but overall it’s not an album that I can wholeheartedly recommend. Whilst I may dip into it from time to time, it’s not a record I can imagine listening to regularly and there’s a feeling that the band concentrated on making each individual song rather than on making an album. ‘Silence in the snow’ is an improvement on ‘vengeance falls’, but overall it’s something of a disappointment and I can’t help but feel that the band that gave us the excellence ‘shogun’ and the wonderful ‘in waves’ are capable of producing better.
