Thursday: Trivium - Kirisute Gomen

     Longtime Trivium fans seem to be somewhat divided on the subject of the band's more recent offerings, and understandably so: their last three albums have, in this writer's humble opinion, been hit or miss, at best. But I think even the most jaded Trivium fan would agree that the band's last great record, and arguably its best, is still 2008's Shogun.

     Personally, I still have a soft spot in my beard for 2005's Ascendancy, both because that was the album that introduced me to Matt Heafy and Company, and because that was back when I was first getting into Metal with a fucking capital M (and yes, I know, purists among you might argue that Trivium is anything but straight-up metal, but whatever). But even I can appreciate the fact that Shogun represents Trivium firing on all cylinders: they took the energy and intensity of Ascendancy and alloyed it with the chops and songwriting skills they honed with 2006's overindulgent The Crusade.

     The result is a collection of tracks that strikes a balance between heavy and melodic, rife with metaphor and symbolism and mythological references, and complete with some tasty riff and leads for the discerning air guitarists out there. Since I like to start at the start, and since its title is a badass phrase from the history of feudal Japan, I'm throwing it back to album-opener "Kirisute Gomen" for your belated Thursday post. Exercise your right to cut and leave and crank this one.

Monday: Trivium - Forsake Not the Dream

     What's this? A Monday post almost on a Monday? You know it. A "Metal" Monday post even. But why the quotation marks, you ask? I'll tell you, I said.

     I used to be a pretty decent Trivium fan. Ascendancy in particular came out at the perfect time, just when I was getting into heavier and heavier stuff. That album and Shogun are definitely my favourites, and I'll still revisit them periodically. But everything since Shogun has been a little hit or miss, even if you're still into Trivium, which I know a lot of tr00 metalheads aren't.

     I would, however, point out that even that hit-or-miss newer material does occasionally hit, providing songs that, for whatever reason, hook me in just the right way. Your "Metal" Monday song, "Forsake Not the Dream" from 2011's In Waves, is just such a track. I don't know why its radio-friendly, melody-heavy riffs and chord progressions tickle me the way they do, but it's a very Goldilocks-just-right mix of elements. Have a listen, and then commence your scoffing, O tr00est of metalheads.

Song of the Day: Trivium - Rain

     More Heavy TO prep for you today, as well as the first Song of the Day repeat: Trivium. This is also the only kind of Song of the Day repeat allowed (ie: band) because I've been choosing songs, and will continue to choose songs, based on two simple unwritten rules which I will now commit to writing.
1) A band can't have back to back songs on consecutive days, or even days that are close together.
2) No repeat songs.
I won't be breaking either of those by picking another Trivium song (since it's been a few weeks since "The Crusade" was Song of the Day) so we're all good.

     Your Song of the Day is "Rain" off of 2005's Ascendancy. This is the song that got me into Trivium. I'm not the hugest fan of their newer stuff (don't get me wrong, I still like some of it) but when this came out this was a pretty solid, pretty thrashy metalcore album. And it got stuck in my craw partly because of this song. Even though it's the second track, it almost serves as the album opener, since it's the first "real" song, and boy does it fucking boot the door of the album wide open with that intro/verse riff. Have a listen, and then tune in again tomorrow.

Song of the Day: Trivium - The Crusade

     Today's song comes from new school thrashers Trivium. If you ask me, Trivium's recent efforts have gotten increasingly mundane, increasingly run-of-the-mill -- their last couple albums aren't bad, they're just not great -- but when their second disc Ascendancy came out in 2005, I was way into them. Their follow-up, 2006's The Crusade,  didn't have that certain something and leaned a little far in the 80's direction for many, but it did spawn today's song.

     Your song today is the title track from The Crusade, an epic instrumental that ended up being my favourite off the whole album. The song's riffs might not be assembled with the most finesse (more stitched together at times) but boy, what a handful of riffs! Crank it up and pick your favourite.