The Crusade (album)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| IGN | 8.1/10[7] |
| Kerrang! | [citation needed] |
| Metal Hammer | 9/10[citation needed] |
| Rolling Stone |  [citation needed] |
| Sputnikmusic | 2.0/5[8] |
| Total Guitar |   [citation needed] |
The Crusade is the third album by heavy metal band Trivium. Released on October 10, 2006 through Roadrunner Records. It is considered a drastic change from their previous album Ascendancy by some critics. The album was produced by Jason Suecof and mixed by Colin Richardson.
Background
Before the album was released, three songs from the album were released on the band's MySpace: "Detonation", "Anthem (We Are the Fire)", and "Entrance of the Conflagration". Music videos for "Entrance of the Conflagration", "Anthem (We Are the Fire)", "The Rising", "To the Rats", and "Becoming the Dragon" were produced and released on Roadrunner's website.[9]
In the United Kingdom, the album was released on October 9, and was certified silver in for sales in excess of 60,000 copies. The album peaked at number 7 in the UK and at number 25 on Billboard 200 and it sold over 100,000 copies in the United States.[10]
The track "Detonation" is available on the Xbox 360 release of the video game Guitar Hero II as downloadable content while the track "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" is featured on Burnout Dominator, Sleeping Dogs and Saints Row 2.[11][12]
Musical style and lyrics
The album represents a drastic change in style from their previous album, Ascendancy, adopting a mostly thrash metal sound, and having metalcore characteristics such as breakdowns and growled vocals featured in metalcore are kept to a very small minimum. As a result, vocalist Matt Heafy used a clean vocal style similar to James Hetfield throughout most of the record. Heafy justified this by noting that "the four of us were never into bands that scream and we don't like any of the current bands that scream, so we asked ourselves why we're doing it."[13] However, growled vocals would return as a regular attribute on the band's proceeding album, Shogun as well as sometimes some breakdowns.
Lyrical themes on the album include famous killings. "Entrance of the Conflagration" is about Andrea Yates's murder of her five children, "Unrepentant" is about Nazir Ahmad's murder of his three daughters and stepdaughter, "Contempt Breeds Contamination" is about the death of Amadou Diallo, and "And Sadness Will Sear" is based upon the murder of Matthew Shepard.[14] Another common theme on this album is unity or "being united" with songs like Anthem (We Are the Fire) and The Rising. Another lyrical theme that is noticed is in the song "Becoming the Dragon," which is based on the Japanese mythology story of a fish (or known as Koi in the song) climbing to Dragon Gate and transforms into a dragon and becomes kings over the nation.
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Matt Heafy
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ignition" | Heafy | 3:54 |
| 2. | "Detonation" | Heafy | 4:28 |
| 3. | "Entrance of the Conflagration" | Heafy | 4:35 |
| 4. | "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" | Heafy, Paolo Gregoletto | 4:03 |
| 5. | "Unrepentant" | Corey Beaulieu | 4:51 |
| 6. | "And Sadness Will Sear" | Heafy | 3:34 |
| 7. | "Becoming the Dragon" | Heafy | 4:43 |
| 8. | "To the Rats" | Gregoletto | 3:42 |
| 9. | "This World Can't Tear Us Apart" | Heafy | 3:30 |
| 10. | "Tread the Floods" | Beaulieu | 3:33 |
| 11. | "Contempt Breeds Contamination" | Heafy | 4:28 |
| 12. | "The Rising" | Gregoletto | 3:45 |
| 13. | "The Crusade" (Instrumental) | Heafy | 8:19 |
| Total length: | 57:25 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 14. | "Broken One" | 5:50 |
| 15. | "Vengeance" | 3:38 |
| Total length: | 66:50 | |
Personnel
- Trivium
- Matt Heafy – lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
- Corey Beaulieu – lead and rhythm guitars
- Paolo Gregoletto – bass
- Travis Smith – drums
- Additional performers
- Jason Suecof – Additional lead guitar on "The Rising"
- Production
- Produced by Trivium and Jason Suecof
- Engineered by Mark Lewis and Jason Suecof
- Mixed by Colin Richardson
- Mix engineer and Pro Tools – Matt Hyde
- Assistant engineer – Laurence Aldridge
- Mastered by Ted Jensen
Chart positions
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 25 |
| Australia ARIA Albums Chart | 14 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 44 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 23 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 64 |
| French Albums Chart | 115 |
| German Albums Chart | 23 |
| Irish Albums Chart | 12 |
| Italian Albums Chart | 86 |
| Japanese Oricon Albums Chart | 46 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 61 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 41 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 92 |
| UK Albums Chart | 7 |
References
- ^ a b Jurek, Thom. "The Crusade - Trivium". Allmusic.
- ^ "Trivium Detonation (Single)". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ Entrance of the Conflagration (Media notes). Trivium. Roadrunner Records. 2006. RR PROMO 953.
{{cite AV media notes}}:|format=requires|url=(help)CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Trivium Anthem (We Are The Fire)(EP)". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ "Trivium The Rising (Single)". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
- ^ "Trivium - Becoming the Dragon". Metal Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
- ^ "The Crusade - Trivium". IGN.
- ^ Stagno, Mike. "The Crusade - Trivium". Sputnikmusic.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Videos of some of the songs
- ^ "TRIVIUM Guitarist Says Next CD Will Be Mixture Of 'Crusade' And 'Ascendancy'". BlabberMouth.
- ^ "Saint's Row 2 Soundtrack". 1UP.com.
- ^ "Burnout Dominator Soundtrack". About.com.
- ^ "Matthew Heafy: "Our Crusade Is To Make Trivium Something Enormous In The World"". Blabbermouth.net. 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ Thompson, Ed (October 12, 2006). "Trivium - The Crusade: Trivium - The Crusade". IGN.