 | Blog author: Alex Stojanovic All fellow Trivium fans rejoice! Today (September 30, 2018) marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the band's masterpiece: Shogun. Where did the time go? Talk about feeling old. It feels like it was only a few weeks to maybe a year ago that I was walking around high school listening to this album on my lunch breaks, and here we are 10 years later. |
Ember To Inferno set the table, followed by Ascendancy, which blew so many minds around the world, and continues to do so. Then you have The Crusade, which drew mixed reactions from fans and critics, but it's still one of the band's best records, and is in my top 3 Trivium records. I don't care what anyone says. Then all of a sudden, this monster (Shogun) came in and took things to another level. In celebration of this milestone, I thought I'd recount my experience about waiting for the album to come out, how I reacted when I bought it, and what I think 10 years later. I've got quite a bit to say, so bear with me.
After many people bashed The Crusade for the change in direction, and thinking it sounded too much like Metallica (which it does NOT), Shogun cemented Trivium's place among the best metal bands of the 2000s. Their songwriting skills elevated considerably in the two years since they released The Crusade in 2006, and that is proven with songs like "Kirisute Gomen", "Torn Between Scylla & Charybdis", "Down From The Sky", "Into The Mouth Of Hell We March", "Throes Of Perdition", "Like Callisto To A Star In Heaven" and the epic 12-minute closing title track. Shogun to me and many other people is where they hit their songwriting peak.
I remember when the album was announced for release, many people who hated the direction on The Crusade were wondering what we were in for? The band announced that after the lack of screams on The Crusade, screams would be returning on Shogun. To prove it, the band released their cover of "Iron Maiden" as a tease, which ended up on the Maiden Heaven Iron Maiden tribute album. Matt incorporated a few screams into the song, and that ended up generating a lot of hype amongst the fans. After that, we couldn't wait to get a taste from the album.
After many people bashed The Crusade for the change in direction, and thinking it sounded too much like Metallica (which it does NOT), Shogun cemented Trivium's place among the best metal bands of the 2000s. Their songwriting skills elevated considerably in the two years since they released The Crusade in 2006, and that is proven with songs like "Kirisute Gomen", "Torn Between Scylla & Charybdis", "Down From The Sky", "Into The Mouth Of Hell We March", "Throes Of Perdition", "Like Callisto To A Star In Heaven" and the epic 12-minute closing title track. Shogun to me and many other people is where they hit their songwriting peak.
I remember when the album was announced for release, many people who hated the direction on The Crusade were wondering what we were in for? The band announced that after the lack of screams on The Crusade, screams would be returning on Shogun. To prove it, the band released their cover of "Iron Maiden" as a tease, which ended up on the Maiden Heaven Iron Maiden tribute album. Matt incorporated a few screams into the song, and that ended up generating a lot of hype amongst the fans. After that, we couldn't wait to get a taste from the album.
| | The first single to be released from the record was "Kirisute Gomen", and I loved how they blended the thrash-style vocals from the The Crusade, along with the screams and clean vocals from Ascendancy. To this day, it's still one of my top favourite Trivum tracks. I think that they should open all their shows with that track. Hmm? |
It was about a week or so later that the band released "Into The Mouth Of Hell We March", which ended up on the Madden '09 video game soundtrack, followed by the music video for "Down From The Sky", which came out a month prior to the album's release, and the last single to be released before the album came out was "Throes Of Perdition". With each new single that came out, my excitement for the album just grew and grew. I wanted to pick up the album on release day, but I wasn't able to, so I went out the next day and picked it up. Over the next year or so, I had the album on heavy rotation. Every time I listen to the album, I'm transported back to those days. I got the deluxe edition, which included the bonus tracks "Poison, The Knife Or The Noose", "Upon The Shores" and the "Iron Maiden" cover. There's also the bonus DVD, which includes the making of the album, and instructional videos for some of the album's riffs on guitar and bass.
For people that have the deluxe edition and have watched the making of, you'll remember that there's a segment where the band were preparing to record the B-sides, and we hear a small snippet of a Trivium song that was never released, but was recorded during the Shogun sessions. Many people were wondering what that song was called, but the band never spoke about it. Many people thought it was "Silence In The Snow", when they saw the title appear on Corey Beaulieu's iPod list as an unreleased Trivium song, but when "Silence In The Snow" was released 7 years later, it turned out that it wasn't the song after all. However, last year when we interviewed Corey, I asked him about the song and what it was called and if it would ever be released. He said the track was called "Ascent Of The Phoenix", and they have no plans on releasing the song, except for maybe taking some riffs from the song and incorporating them into new songs in the future. At least we have an answer about it now. You can watch the interview by clicking here.
For people that have the deluxe edition and have watched the making of, you'll remember that there's a segment where the band were preparing to record the B-sides, and we hear a small snippet of a Trivium song that was never released, but was recorded during the Shogun sessions. Many people were wondering what that song was called, but the band never spoke about it. Many people thought it was "Silence In The Snow", when they saw the title appear on Corey Beaulieu's iPod list as an unreleased Trivium song, but when "Silence In The Snow" was released 7 years later, it turned out that it wasn't the song after all. However, last year when we interviewed Corey, I asked him about the song and what it was called and if it would ever be released. He said the track was called "Ascent Of The Phoenix", and they have no plans on releasing the song, except for maybe taking some riffs from the song and incorporating them into new songs in the future. At least we have an answer about it now. You can watch the interview by clicking here.
| Aside from the masterful riffs from Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu, and the pounding bass from Paolo Gregoletto, Travis Smith is the star of the album. As a drummer, Travis was and always will be one of my main influences because of his creative style. My mind was blown the first time I heard him on Ascendancy. |  |
All the other drummers the band had since they lost Travis are amazing in their own way, including their current drummer Alex Bent. However, I feel that none of the other drummers can hold a candle to Travis, as he brought the perfect blend of technicality and simplicity, and he had an amazing sense of feel and groove that is unparalleled with the other drummers that played in the band. It's one of the main elements that made the first four records so incredible.
The Shogun tour was also the first time I got to see Trivium live, which was during their headlining North American tour in the fall of 2009 in Toronto at the Sound Academy with Chimaira, Whitechapel and Dirge Within. When I found out that Travis was not going to be present at the shows during the second leg, I held out hope that he would remain with the band and I would get to see him on stage again in the future, but unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case.
When the band announced that they were replacing Travis, I was disappointed as many fans were, but I've made my peace with that. However, I will admit that there are some times still to this day where I think about what Travis' contribution and influence would've been like for In Waves and the other succeeding albums, had he stayed in the band. I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering this, but I digress. Trivium is and will always remain one of my top favourite bands of all time, and I will always be a fan for the rest of life to come, but there is no touching those first four records, and Travis was a monumental part of Trivium's sound.
One of the other reasons that makes Shogun stand out is the production. I felt that In Waves onwards, the production felt a little too polished. Now I'm not saying polished production is bad, because I love great clean and crisp production, but Shogun was the perfect middle ground where it was polished, but also still felt raw, and the treble wasn't so high, and that's all thanks to the great Nick Raskulinecz. Ascendancy and The Crusade were also polished, but not to the point where the treble seemed too high, which can be heard on In Waves, Vengeance Falls and The Sin & The Sentence. Silence In The Snow is somewhat an exception. That's another element that separates the first four records from the last four.
I'm going to digress one more time. With the start of In Waves, the band began incorporating more djent styled riffs into some of their songs, which was never really my thing. I'm not saying Trivium are djent band, but you can hear the influence in songs like "In Waves", "Brave This Storm", "To Believe", "Dead & Gone", "Until The World Goes Cold" and "The Wretchedness Inside", along with a few others. The first four records had the best combination of modern influences along with the old-school metal influences, which appeals to me a lot more.
All these reasons are why Shogun remains untouchable still to this day. With all due respect to the last four albums, which are all great in their own way, the first four records have them all beat. The Sin & The Sentence would be the band's best album since Shogun, and while Alex Bent is one beast of a drummer, I feel that he went a little overboard on the fills. I kind of wish he pulled back on the use of fills. That may sound a little weird coming from me as a drummer, but I'm just being honest like I always am. Travis incorporated cool and flashy fills as well, but he never went overboard. He knew exactly when and when not to add in a fill and what type of fill or groove would fit with a certain part, whereas I feel that Alex incorporated a few too many technical and flashy fills just for the sake of it, and honestly, the overuse of fills kind of took away from the feel of the song, but that's just me. However, he does incorporate great grooves and when you see him play, he's really relaxed, which is what drumming is all about and is exactly what I like to see. His ability to execute fast and technical parts so effortlessly while being relaxed is astonishing. As a drum teacher, relaxation is one of the first things I teach all my students. Regardless, I look forward to hearing what Trivium have coming next, as well as seeing them live again in the future.
10 years later, Shogun still sounds as fresh as it did when I first bought it back when it came out, and it's still their best album. With all that said, and on behalf of all the fans worldwide, happy 10th anniversary to Shogun, and here's to another 10 years and beyond of Taking Their Fucking Heads!
The Shogun tour was also the first time I got to see Trivium live, which was during their headlining North American tour in the fall of 2009 in Toronto at the Sound Academy with Chimaira, Whitechapel and Dirge Within. When I found out that Travis was not going to be present at the shows during the second leg, I held out hope that he would remain with the band and I would get to see him on stage again in the future, but unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case.
When the band announced that they were replacing Travis, I was disappointed as many fans were, but I've made my peace with that. However, I will admit that there are some times still to this day where I think about what Travis' contribution and influence would've been like for In Waves and the other succeeding albums, had he stayed in the band. I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering this, but I digress. Trivium is and will always remain one of my top favourite bands of all time, and I will always be a fan for the rest of life to come, but there is no touching those first four records, and Travis was a monumental part of Trivium's sound.
One of the other reasons that makes Shogun stand out is the production. I felt that In Waves onwards, the production felt a little too polished. Now I'm not saying polished production is bad, because I love great clean and crisp production, but Shogun was the perfect middle ground where it was polished, but also still felt raw, and the treble wasn't so high, and that's all thanks to the great Nick Raskulinecz. Ascendancy and The Crusade were also polished, but not to the point where the treble seemed too high, which can be heard on In Waves, Vengeance Falls and The Sin & The Sentence. Silence In The Snow is somewhat an exception. That's another element that separates the first four records from the last four.
I'm going to digress one more time. With the start of In Waves, the band began incorporating more djent styled riffs into some of their songs, which was never really my thing. I'm not saying Trivium are djent band, but you can hear the influence in songs like "In Waves", "Brave This Storm", "To Believe", "Dead & Gone", "Until The World Goes Cold" and "The Wretchedness Inside", along with a few others. The first four records had the best combination of modern influences along with the old-school metal influences, which appeals to me a lot more.
All these reasons are why Shogun remains untouchable still to this day. With all due respect to the last four albums, which are all great in their own way, the first four records have them all beat. The Sin & The Sentence would be the band's best album since Shogun, and while Alex Bent is one beast of a drummer, I feel that he went a little overboard on the fills. I kind of wish he pulled back on the use of fills. That may sound a little weird coming from me as a drummer, but I'm just being honest like I always am. Travis incorporated cool and flashy fills as well, but he never went overboard. He knew exactly when and when not to add in a fill and what type of fill or groove would fit with a certain part, whereas I feel that Alex incorporated a few too many technical and flashy fills just for the sake of it, and honestly, the overuse of fills kind of took away from the feel of the song, but that's just me. However, he does incorporate great grooves and when you see him play, he's really relaxed, which is what drumming is all about and is exactly what I like to see. His ability to execute fast and technical parts so effortlessly while being relaxed is astonishing. As a drum teacher, relaxation is one of the first things I teach all my students. Regardless, I look forward to hearing what Trivium have coming next, as well as seeing them live again in the future.
10 years later, Shogun still sounds as fresh as it did when I first bought it back when it came out, and it's still their best album. With all that said, and on behalf of all the fans worldwide, happy 10th anniversary to Shogun, and here's to another 10 years and beyond of Taking Their Fucking Heads!
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