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"Our bus broke down so I’m just trying to get my shit in order so I can move. But it’s all good."

Trivium guitarist Corey Beaulieu is having some automotive problems but he isn’t perturbed. In fact, he kind of snickers after the comment is made. So, it’s satisfying to see that success has not spoiled the maniacal metal musician. Ultimate-Guitar interviewed him back in 2006 for the release of the band’s third album, The Crusade, and he was an affable and easygoing character who seemed well unaware of his own talents and the steadily growing popularity of his band.

And now, with the release of Shogun at hand and another interminably long tour stretching out before him, UG has tracked him down once again. The new album brings together the elements of the first three – blinding riffs tacked on to vocals both screamed and sung; breakneck rhythm tracks; harmony guitar parts leaving vapor trails in their wake – and presents them in a far more cohesive and fully realized fashion. The songs are more carefully structured and the soloes more fully woven into the template of the arrangement as opposed to a million notes simply flying all over the track.

In fact, that’s where the conversation begins, talking about Shogun’s place in the band’s recorded development.

UG: Is Shogun the culmination of the previous three albums? Is it the beginning of a new phase for Trivium?

Corey Beaulieu: Well, every record we try and go and push ourselves and just write cool songs that we did as a band. And we mix some things up to make it fun and also to progress and stuff and to keep it interesting for ourselves. Every record is just like that moment in time and what we feel is the best thing for us to do musically as a band. All the other records were just steppingstones to the next level and every time we go do a new record, we’ve had more experience and we played together more and just keep striving to push ourselves. The new record is just the result of all our previous records and the whole build-up to it. So it’s definitely got like a lot of elements that you can hear on those previous records but also this record’s got the next steps of the evolution of our sound incorporated into it. So it doesn’t sound like a copy of any other record, it’s its own thing; but also people can hear some familiarity throughout from the previous records. I think people will be able to dig it a lot because they’ll just be able to feel the different stuff from the Crusade or Ember … or Ascendancy as well.

When we had our first conversation, one of the points you really wanted to make was that the Crusade album was pointing the band in a more vocally melodic direction. You even said, “Some people are gonna be mad that we don’t scream anymore.” You actually spoke at length how Trivium were moving away from the screaming thing into a more straight up vocal style. And here on the Shogun album, the screaming is back in full throttle. Can you explain that?

We were writing the music and we always get the songs down musically before we do anything vocally. We had a couple tracks done and we went in and did like the demoes and stuff and we were trying to do some vocal stuff and we were doing some singing stuff pretty much starting off doing the vocals in the style of the Crusade stuff. There’s a lot of riffs and parts on this record that are a lot darker and heavier than anything we’ve had before, so it definitely called for something very aggressive. And we tried a few different things and it really didn’t have the aggression we were looking for. And then Travis just said, “Try fucking screaming on it and see if that works.” And we tried it and it sounded really good so we were like, “Yeah, that’s what the part needed; it needed that.” So we just decided wherever there’s a part on the record where the screaming is kinda called for, we’ll do it. Instead of limiting ourselves to what we can do. So the screaming gives us another dynamic and another thing to work with creatively. And I think the way we kind of balanced it out is using the screaming is kind of like to accent a part or an aggressive part.

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Sound: It may just be that Trivium took the public’s reviews of it's last album into consideration when they once again returned to the studio. I’m sure many of you will recall that The Crusade was met with mixed reviews because it took a dramatic turn to the melodic, vocally speaking. The screams were replaced with more of a James Hetfield-like singing style, and not every Trivium fan was on board for the change. So whether or not public opinion played a role in their writing, Trivium has returned with Shogun, an album that has a distinctly more brutal songwriting approach, yet still thrives on the amazing technical abilities of vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Travis Smith.

With over an hour’s worth of material, Shogun takes you in a million different directions musically. Just when you think you have one song figured out, Trivium might decide to alter the tempo or make a sudden shift from aggressive screaming to a beautifully sung chorus that takes the song out. The opener “Kirisute Gomen” is a fairly good representation of the rest of the album, and melodically it is one of the strongest among the 11 tracks. The song begins with a beautiful lone acoustic, which quickly is joined by an almost primal drum beat. The electrics jump in soon after, and it’s at that point where a variety of musical sections take turns with one another. Screamed sections are abruptly interrupted by solid melodies, and vice versa. At one point everything stops completely as if going to the next track, but oh no – there’s still more to come. It’s a solid track in terms of songwriting and is memorable introduction for Shogun.

Trivium still draws from the masters, but the quartet is skilled enough as musicians that they make a positive out of it. The James Hetfield vocal similarities are still present on “Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis, ” a song that actually has a Megadeth-like guitar line running throughout as well. While they don’t quite live up to these icons, Trivium still manages to create a pretty good balance between screamed thrash sections and accessible melodies. As you might expect guitarists Heafy and Beaulieu still put on quite the show with their solos, and if it’s possible, they’re even more impressive. Highlights in this area include “Into The Mouth of Hell We March” (if you like a little speed in your solos, you’ll get it in full during this one) and “Shogun” (an 11-minute epic that includes electric insanity, restrained acoustic work, and everything in between).

The band deserves credit for including multiple unique sections in each song, even if there might be a few tracks with a base melody that doesn’t hook you immediately. The chorus in “Down From The Sky” might get a little repetitive or “Of Prometheus and the Furies” tends to sound too similar to what has done before in the metal world, but as a whole Shogun is still leaps and bounds a better album than The Crusade.

Lyrics and Singing: There is certainly a dramatic aspect to Trivium’s musical content, and the lyrics match (if not surpass) the larger-than-life flair of the band. Shogun features quite a few songs that deal with battles and the way of the sword, and it may lay it on a bit thick for some listeners out there. But for as aggressive as some of the songs are, you have to give the band credit for creating a vivid picture to match what is going on musically. One of the most descriptive songs is “Throes of Perdition” in which Heafy sings, “Vultures circle above; Hyenas mocking the kill; Excrement drooling down their chins; Atop the cliffs I look down, into the starving Hell-mouth; The rabid foam crashes hard on it's teeth; Their mouths' salivate.” The lyrics definitely have a fascinating aspect to them, but they are also the kind that fans tend to love or hate.

Impression: While there were plenty of listeners who did enjoy The Crusade, Trivium should appease a much larger fan base with Shogun. Whether or not you enjoy screamed vocals, they take the songs in a completely fresh direction and it makes the sung, melodic segments all the more powerful. Each member of Trivium gives his all to Shogun, but it’s hard to not gush a little extra about the guitarists once again. They have delivered so many incredible riffs, solos, and breakdowns on the new album, it will take multiple listens in order to appreciate the full scope of their compositions.

Source = Ultimate guitar

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