| Ascendancy | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 15, 2005 | |||
| Recorded | September – October 2004 [1] | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 55:10 | |||
| Label | Roadrunner | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Trivium studio album chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ascendancy | ||||
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Ascendancy is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on March 15, 2005, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Jason Suecof and Matt Heafy.
This marks the first Trivium album to feature guitarist Corey Beaulieu and bassist Paolo Gregoletto. The album was produced by Jason Suecof and frontman Matt Heafy. The album spawned four singles: "Like Light to the Flies", "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation" and "Dying in Your Arms". Music videos for each of the songs were shot; a promotional video was filmed for the song "Rain".
The music video for "Like Light to the Flies" debuted at MTV2's Headbangers Ball on September 25, 2004 [1] and features the original demo of the song, which was included on the MTV compilation album Headbangers Ball Volume 2 . [10] Likewise, demos of songs "The Deceived" and "Blinding Tears Will Break the Skies" were included on the re-release of Trivium's debut album Ember to Inferno, nearly a year before Ascendancy was released.
Speaking to Kerrang! about the songs' lyrics, Matt Heafy said: "Definitely, some of the lyrics are about my personal insecurities and my social issues and disorders, and there's a thing about quietness in the music industry – people assume you're a dickhead if you don't want to talk, and that was definitely said about me. Being in a band forced me to have to get over my awkwardness around people and you can really see what I was going through in there." [11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [4] |
| PopMatters |   [2] |
Upon its release, the album received critical acclaim. In a very positive review, Johnny Loftus of AllMusic said about the album, "Ascendancy aligns real-deal thrash with powerful modern influences. But at all times it's a platform for Trivium's own crazed talent." [4]
Since its release, Ascendancy has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. [15] In the U.S., the album peaked at No. 151 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 4 on the Top Heatseekers charts, and has sold over 140,000 units. [16] In the UK, it peaked at No. 79, and shipped over 100,000 copies, attaining Gold status, without entering the UK top 75. [17]
All lyrics are written by Matt Heafy
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The End of Everything" (instrumental) | Heafy, Jason Suecof | 1:21 |
| 2. | "Rain" | Heafy, Corey Beaulieu | 4:11 |
| 3. | "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" | Heafy, Beaulieu, Travis Smith | 4:51 |
| 4. | "Drowned and Torn Asunder" | Heafy, Beaulieu | 4:17 |
| 5. | "Ascendancy" | Heafy | 4:25 |
| 6. | "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation" | Heafy, Beaulieu | 5:55 |
| 7. | "Like Light to the Flies" | Heafy, Beaulieu | 5:40 |
| 8. | "Dying in Your Arms" | Heafy | 2:53 |
| 9. | "The Deceived" | Heafy, Beaulieu | 5:11 |
| 10. | "Suffocating Sight" | Heafy | 3:47 |
| 11. | "Departure" | Heafy | 5:41 |
| 12. | "Declaration" | Heafy | 6:58 |
| Total length: | 55:10 | ||
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Washing Away Me in the Tides" | Heafy | 3:46 |
| Total length: | 58:56 | ||
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Blinding Tears Will Break the Skies" | Heafy | 5:10 |
| 14. | "Washing Away Me in the Tides" | Heafy | 3:46 |
| 15. | "Master of Puppets" (Metallica cover, lyrics by James Hetfield) | Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett | 8:11 |
| 16. | "Dying in Your Arms" (video mix) | Heafy | 3:05 |
| Total length: | 75:22 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Like Light to the Flies" | |
| 2. | "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" | |
| 3. | "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation" | |
| 4. | "Dying in Your Arms" |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The End of Everything" (instrumental) | 1:23 |
| 2. | "Rain" | 4:21 |
| 3. | "Dying in Your Arms" | 3:22 |
| 4. | "Like Light to the Flies" | 6:23 |
| 5. | "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation" | 6:45 |
| 6. | "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" | 5:45 |
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| Chart (2005–2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [21] | 93 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [22] | 79 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [23] | 1 |
| US Billboard 200 [24] | 151 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [25] | Gold | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Ember to Inferno is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 14, 2003, through Lifeforce Records and was produced by Jason Suecof and the band themselves.
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent.
Roadrunner United was a project organized by American heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary. It culminated in an album released worldwide on October 11, 2005, entitled The All-Star Sessions. Four "team captains" were chosen to lead 57 artists from 45 past and present Roadrunner bands, and produce and oversee the album's 18 tracks: then-Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, Trivium frontman and guitarist Matt Heafy, Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, and Machine Head frontman and guitarist Robb Flynn. The project was the brainchild of Roadrunner UK general manager Mark Palmer and Roadrunner USA VP of A&R Monte Conner. The album project was coordinated by Lora Richardson and was mixed by Colin Richardson and Andy Sneap. The All-Star Sessions spawned one single and music video. The DVD included with the CD purchase is a documentary of the "Making Of" the songs. It features the sessions of the four team captains making their songs.
Matthew Kiichi Heafy is a Japanese-American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason Suecof. In 2017, Heafy was voted sixth on the Ultimate Guitar list "Top 25 Greatest Modern Frontmen".
Paolo Francesco Gregoletto is an American musician best known as the bassist of the metalcore band Trivium.
The Crusade is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 10, 2006, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Jason Suecof and the band themselves. The album marked a significant musical change from the metalcore sound of their preceding album Ascendancy, with the band utilizing thrash metal influences. Accordingly, vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy sings with primarily 'clean' vocals throughout The Crusade, rather than utilizing the 'screaming' style heard on Ascendancy.
Corey King Beaulieu is an American musician best known as the guitarist of the heavy metal band Trivium. At live shows, he also performs backing and, sometimes, lead screaming vocals.
"Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr" is a song by American heavy metal band Trivium. It appears on their 2005 album Ascendancy and was released as the album's second single in the same year. Metal Hammer named it "one of the decade’s biggest metal anthems".
"Like Light to the Flies" is a song by American heavy metal band Trivium and is the first single and music video from their 2005 album, Ascendancy. The band originally considered using the song "Ember to Inferno" as their first single but changed their minds after recording this song. "Like Light" was released in January 2005 and features a mix of screaming and singing. The song contains two guitar solos which are played nearly consecutively to sound as one longer solo; a small interlude is played in the middle of them. The music video features original member Brent Young, and the version of the song used in the video is not the album version but rather the demo version, found previously on the MTV compilation album MTV2 Headbanger's Ball: Volume 2.
"A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation", often referred to as "Gunshot", is a song by American heavy metal band Trivium. Written by Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu, both of whom perform vocals and guitars on the track, it was featured on the band's second studio album Ascendancy in 2005. The song was also released as a promotional single in May 2005, with an accompanying music video following in September.
The discography of Trivium, an American heavy metal band, consists of ten studio albums, three extended play, two demo albums, 42 singles and 34 music videos. Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1999, the group's first recording lineup included vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, bassist Brent Young and drummer Travis Smith, who together released Ember to Inferno on Lifeforce Records in 2003. After the addition of guitarist Corey Beaulieu and new bassist Paolo Gregoletto in place of Young, the band signed with Roadrunner Records and released Ascendancy in 2005, which reached number 151 on the US Billboard 200. It also reached number 79 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The Crusade followed in 2006, peaking at number 25 on the Billboard 200 and number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's second single "Anthem " reached number 40 on the UK Singles Chart and topped the UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart, while its third single "The Rising" was the band's first to register on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, reaching number 32.
Shogun is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. The album was released worldwide on various dates between September 23, 2008, and October 1, 2008, through Roadrunner Records. It is their last release to feature original drummer Travis Smith. Work on the album is noted to have begun with producer Nick Raskulinecz in October 2007, with the band stating that they chose not to work with Jason Suecof again as they wanted to explore new ideas.
In Waves is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released worldwide during August 2011 through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Colin Richardson and Martyn "Ginge" Ford.
"Built to Fall" is the second single of American heavy metal band Trivium's fifth studio album, In Waves. This song was released on August 16, 2011. It is the second single to feature drummer Nick Augusto. The album featured a sound closer to Ascendancy than The Crusade and Shogun and features a more metalcore sound than thrash metal. It reached 31 on the UK Rock Chart.
Silence in the Snow is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. Released on October 2, 2015, through Roadrunner Records, it is the band's only album to feature third drummer Mat Madiro, who joined the band in May 2014 and departed in December 2015. It is also the band's only album to date to not feature any harsh vocals. Michael "Elvis" Baskette was hired as the producer whom the band had met while recording In Waves album back in 2011.
The Sin and the Sentence is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 20, 2017, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Josh Wilbur. The album is the first to feature fifth drummer Alex Bent, who replaced drummer Paul Wandtke. With the release of the album's title track, this album would also mark the return of frontman Matt Heafy's screaming vocals since the band's 2013 album Vengeance Falls, which were completely absent from the band's previous album Silence in the Snow due to an injury which caused Heafy to blow out his voice.
What the Dead Men Say is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on April 24, 2020, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Josh Wilbur.
In the Court of the Dragon is the tenth studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 8, 2021, through Roadrunner Records and was produced by Josh Wilbur.
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