Trivium - Silence In The Snow (2015)

I have always considered Trivium to be the modern day version of Testament. While the bands are quite different when it comes to their sound, they both emerged into the scene fairly quietly, gaining a respectable and loyal fan base, but never getting the big world wide recognition. While Testament has been in the shadow of Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, Trivium has fallen behind such acts as Avenged Sevenfold and All That Remains. They have still made some good music through the years, and have certainly not lacked the quality to compete against the best.

With this said, "Silence In The Snow" could be one of my bigger disappointments of the year. Okay, I did not have humongous expectations for this release, but I did like their latest album "Vengeance Falls", so I hoped that they would be able to keep the momentum going high. I should have probably seen this coming, since the band has stated that this album would resemble their most famous creation, "Shogun" (the title track was even written during the "Shogun" era, but did not make it into the album). It usually does not bode good when bands does this kind of thing.

The most notable thing with "Silence In The Snow" is the complete absence of harsh vocals. Matt Heafy uses only his clean vocals in this album, which I do admit is his stronger side of the vocal spectrum, but it takes away some of the Trivium identity by doing this. Naturally, it also makes the album a little softer than the average Trivium album, which could be positive or negative depending on who you ask. I can stand it, if the song material is up to par with what the band is capable of.

Starting with the "old" song, the title track does have a tiny touch of "Shogun" in it, but I can see why it did not make the cut. The song is okay, but not overly thrilling, lacking intensity and wow factor. It gets better though, both "Blind Leading The Blind" and "Dead And Gone" are way more interesting, displaying good musicality and technicality.

But something happens after that. The songs loose their killer instinct, and starts powering down to about half the power. I am having a really hard time remembering the songs, because they are so bland and dull that I get the urge to do something else while I am listening, just to get things going. There are way too many songs in this album that is gonna be completely forgotten by this time next week (or even sooner) to make "Silence In The Snow" even a little interesting. It is about as colorful as the album cover.

"Beneath The Sun" and "Rise Above The Tides" does bring me out of my sleep, but they do not help the fact that "Silence In The Snow" is a surprisingly flat album. The main problem is not that Matt has stopped screaming, but the fact that the band has been unable to create 11 songs that utilizes his clean vocals. The album is the pure definition of the word monotonous, holding a even, but far from impressive, standard throughout the album. The band can do a lot better, with or without the harsh vocals.

Songs worthy of recognition: Blind Leading The Blind, Dead And Gone, Beneath The Sun

Rating: 5/10 Tides