TRIVIUM set a new bar with their livestream extravaganza.
FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY, ORLANDO
Florida’s heavy metal hitters lead the livestream into a new era
LIVE STREAMS ARE
quickly becoming a staple in the lives of music lovers, their online accessibility intended to fill the void felt by many missing gigs and festivals as COVID-19 continues to affect our industry. The ongoing requirement that we adhere to social distancing has resulted in restrictions when it comes to this performance format, whether it be space or logistics, with bandmembers often having to link up from their respective homes to do so. For some fans, that absent sense of occasion and camaraderie has created a certain degree of stream fatigue as we pass the four-month mark. One might argue that it’s time for that next step in this experiment – and Trivium have taken a leap.
Already synonymous with the virtual art of the livestream, the Floridian metallers have channelled their collective passion for shows, along with inevitable discontent at being unable to tour post-april, into tonight’s A Light Or A Distant Mirror. Beaming live from guitarist Corey Beaulieu’s alma mater, Full Sail University, the quartet are shooting for nothing less than an audio-visual extravaganza, with a full-length, arena-scale production show on offer for fans across the globe. A $9 price tag hasn’t dissuaded viewers either, with more than 10,000 tickets being snatched up prior to the broadcast, with the added option to rewatch up to 48 hours later.
Not only do folks have the choice to relive tonight’s proceedings: there’s also an opportunity for British favourites SYLOSIS to expand their established fanbase, as the ‘support’ of choice on the bill. Despite being pre-recorded a few days earlier in an empty UK venue, the Reading fourpiece’s set still feels immediate and incendiary. Years of consistent graft has led to a full, rabid evolution, seen with the release of sixth album Cycle Of Suffering, and every moment of this 30-minute, full production set is executed with utmost technical precision. Josh Middleton’s enamelpeeling vocals sit alongside dissonant grooves and chugging breakdowns,
I Sever’s riff-driven fury giving way to the bleak slams of Calcified before the old-school thrash juggernaut
Conclusion Of An Age, which tonight sounds just as timelessly potent as it did more than a decade ago.
The beautifully atmospheric strains of IX are TRIVIUM’S cue to take the stage, an eye-popping array of lights and video screens flanking the band as they segue seamlessly into the title track from their stunning new album,
What The Dead Men Say. Erupting amongst a cacophony of machine-gun riffs and Alex Bent’s taut, muscular drum-pounding, it’s an unequivocally ferocious kick-off to the 100-minuteplus set, which makes full use of the lavish set-up the band have got at their disposal.
Trivium’s pre-show warm-up revelation that leading creative Sooner Routhier – whose production credits include Muse, Kiss and Mötley Crüe to name but a few – is at the helm in terms of stage production and lighting design is further evidence that these guys are certainly not fucking about. There are standing tube lights, dazzling visual displays to complement each particular song, as well as various rigs zooming about onstage during the likes of Down From The Sky and
Catastrophist, the hook-fuelled latter dialling up the pace as it rages relentlessly for six and a half minutes. It is also one of the seven songs in this evening’s setlist that, given What The Dead Men Say’s mid-lockdown release, have never been played live before. The Defiant’s full-throttle debut comes hot on the heels of impassioned cut The Heart From Your Hate, while furniture across the land can be heard being pushed to the sides of the room as quintessential anthem Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr drops in spectacularly overblown fashion. Paolo Gregoletto’s bass grooves on the track are epically heavy; it’s ridiculously fast and boasts a commanding performance from Heafy, who explodes like a loaded-up hirsute grenade.
Banter between songs is limited, but a drum malfunction prior to
Rain makes for the most entertaining and endearing moment of the evening. “Wow, tough crowd tonight!” the frontman quips during the silence, his humour renewing that sense of audience familiarity, and his further admission that Trivium have never been a band’s band with their success being “solely built by every each one of you” reigniting the intimacy usually associated with physical shows rather than online streams. There’s just enough time to relish an ensuing clatter of blastbeats and surrender to Bleed Into Me’s melodic thunder before closing staple In
Waves wraps up what has arguably been a defining moment in Trivium’s two-decade-long history. “Here’s to another 21 years. We’ve been Trivium. Nothing will ever stop us,” Matt declares. And when it comes to the art of the livestream, it’s going to be a tall order for any band to rival this audio-visual experience.
SOPHIE MAUGHAN