TRIVIUM - Vengeance Falls

Possessing a feeling of intense focus, melodic thrash outfit Trivium delivers one of their tightest and most cohesive albums in years on their sixth studio outing, Vengeance Falls. With songwriting that emphasizes quality over quantity or complexity, the album feels more precise in its execution, with every moment expertly placed in order to serve the songs rather than show off the band's musicianship (which is, as always, considerable). A lot of this can be attributed to the work of producer David Draiman of Disturbed and, most recently, Device. Sharing the band's ear for melody, Draiman provides Trivium with a more mainstream perspective. Depending on your view of Draiman's work, that might sound like a bad thing, yet the reality is anything but. Rather than water down their sound, Trivium have refined it, doing away with anything that doesn't serve the song. Because of this, Vengeance Falls comes off as a rock-solid blast of melodic metalcore that manages to be technically impressive without needing to show off. While this might not be the album that will make believers out of their haters, Trivium have put out an album that, with its impressive blend of melody and scorching riffs, feels capable of luring more than a few post-grunge and hard rock fans over to the heavier side of the dial (ALLMUSIC / Review by Gregory Heaney Style: Trash Metal