In Waves

In Waves is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium, released worldwide on various dates August 2, 2011 and August 9, 2011 through Roadrunner Records.^[1]

Background

This album is the first record to feature new drummer Nick Augusto after previous drummer Travis Smith departed in 2009. In various interviews, the band has stated that the album sounds closer to the style of Ascendancy than the style exhibited on The Crusade and Shogun.

The first single from the band, "In Waves", was released on May 21, 2011 to Trivium World members. Following this on June 6, 2011 Matt Heafy stated on his Twitter that the album would be named after the aforementioned song. The single was most recently released onto the US iTunes store & Zune Marketplace on June 10.^[2] On June 17 the music video for "In Waves" was released.

On June 19 Trivium performed "In Waves", "Black" and "Dusk Dismantled" at their show in Birmingham, United Kingdom. It was the first time "In Waves" was played live and the first time "Black" and "Dusk Dismantled" had been heard by fans.

On June 26, Paolo told his Twitter followers to tweet to Roadrunner Records to release the song "Dusk Dismantled." On June 28, the song was released exclusively to TriviumWorld members with an announcement that it'll be released to the official Trivium YouTube page on June 29.

On July 9, Trivium played "Inception of the End" live for the first time at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival in San Bernardino, CA. Not only was it the first time the song had been played live, but it was also the first time the song had been heard by fans.^[3] On July 13, Trivium released "Inception of the End." as their third new single, with the song premiering on HotTopic.com.^[4] On July 21, "Black" and "Built to Fall" premiered on various radio stations including their hometown station WJRR.com and 98online.com.

On their 2011 run on the Mayhem Festival tour, Matt Heafy stated that "Built to Fall" would be their first radio single, and the live debut of "Caustic are the Ties that Bind" was played in San Francisco supporting Dream Theater.

The music video for "Built to Fall" is released on the October 28th, 2011 after a series of image and video teasers released over Facebook and Youtube, while TriviumWorld members could view the video two days earlier.

Critical reception

In Waves has received favourable to mixed reviews from critics, averaging a score of 66 based on 13 reviewers on the review-aggregating website Metacritic.

Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic rated the album four out of five stars and commented "...Trivium will probably be vilified once again for taking the same sort of creative backward step that the fans typically clamor for from Metallica, Slayer, and other bands on down; it's the essence of the Florida band's "can't win" lot in life, but there's always hope that this will change, in time".^[14] Another positive review came from Ian Inwood of BBC, in his review, he stated, "...This may not be quite enough for Trivium to turn back the hands of the clock to the point where the world lay at their fretboards, but the notion that this is a band whose best days lie behind them is one that, at least for now, is resting on ice". Alt Sounds also spoke positively about the album and even after stating "Trivium have not topped themselves" in reference to their past albums but did call it "...a symbol of triumph and overall a sound, beautifully solid record." ^[15]

Revolver Magazine rated the album three out of five stars and summarized, "An inconsistent record with flashes of brilliance, In Waves should, however, keep diehard Trivium fans happy." ^[16]

In Waves was met with negative reviews as well, most notably Jamie Thomson from The Guardian. Who, in his review, stated that, "In Waves is as overproduced and mercilessly polished as modern metal gets, and all the worse for it." ^[17]

Sales

In Waves sold 22,000 copies in its first week of release and debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 and at #1 on the Billboard Hard Rock charts^[18], making it the highest charting record Trivium has released to date. In Canada, the album debuted at #32 on the Canadian Albums Chart.^[19] The album also charted in the UK at #17 on the UK Top 40 albums chart, #6 in Japan and #8 in Germany.^[20]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Trivium, except where noted. 

Personnel

Release history

References