Trivium, Manchester Academy, 19/04/18
“It’s been 13 years for us touring the UK” exclaimed Trivium frontman Matt Heafy to the sold-out Manchester Academy audience, of which will not hesitate to chant the band’s name repetitively in every break they can fit it into. The Sin And The Sentence tour featured some of their heaviest work to date, justifying their name to be in the same breath as some of metal’s real heavyweights. Their almost 7 week tour culminates in a final show in London on the 21st, but not before their penultimate show in Manchester.
As the harmonious and unified singing to Iron Maiden’s Run To The Hills came to a close, in came the speedy intro to one of Trivium’s most recent singles and the same as the aforementioned tour and album name, The Sin And The Sentence. Promptly the speed of newly-acquired drummer Alex Bent carried the pace forward and gave the audience the same intensity and fluidity that matched the recording. Their heavy stylistic influences and their iconic melodic chorus’ were equally balanced through guitarist Corey’s metal scream, bassist Paolo’s harmonising softer background vocals and Matt’s vocals acting as the centre point between the two.
Playing through the rhythmic breakdown of 2008’s Throes of Perdition through to the metalcore stuttering of Inception Of The End they eventually slowed things down with one of the evening’s scarcely lighter tracks, Until The World Goes Cold. All while under the constant engagement and enthusiastic spurring of Matt for Manchester to prevail as the tour’s best UK audience, over Glasgow- the current leaders. The volatile response resulted in the security at the barrier having to help pass over even more crowd surfers.
“You not only beat Glasgow but you’re on your way to being the best crowd out of Europe” and they definitely wanted to be the best. Before Matt could even communicate regarding their upcoming London show there was a deafening booing to which he replied “you’re all on the same team, but let’s keep it competitive.”
After smashing through their most played song, Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr, the electronic keyboard sound of Capsizing The Sea fed through, and with that came the inevitable drop into In Waves, for which the entire audience got down onto the ground for. A testament to the dedication of the audience had the mass of fans all launch to their feet for the opening line. There is no doubt that Trivium are loved in the UK, and the band know it too. “It’s been 13 years for us touring the UK. We were born in the USA but adopted and raised here.”
