Trivium @ UEA
A winning rock n roll show.
I do love a gig with a trifecta of reasons to go, and this Sunday at the UEA fitted the bill perfectly. First up were As Lions. Born from the ashes of Rise to Remains (who I'm totally sure I've seen before/heard of because I'm down with the kids), and featuring Austin 'son of Bruce' Dickinson, I figured that they were worth the early start, and so I made sure I got into the packed LCR bang on time. Whilst I'm glad I did, they just weren't my thing. I guess I'm too old to relate to the angsty stuff these days, but what they did, they did well, and Austin certainly had his dad's pipes on him.
Next up were Heart of a Coward. I'll be honest, I thought I'd heard them before as well, but then realised that I'd got their name confused with Job for a Cowboy. Well I won't be making that mistake again, because I thought that they were fucking great, and easily my favourite band of the evening. As I now know, HOAC are a tech/prog metal band from Milton Keynes, and if that isn't enough to get your juices flowing, I don't know what is. Now on their third album, they absolutely nailed it with a pounding show that had the whole room, and especially me, paying full attention. If you haven't heard of them either, check out Deadweight, which is the tune they finished with. Banger.
Last were headliners Trivium. These I'd definitely seen before, previously on the hallowed soil of Donnington, but never topping their own bill. I had mixed expectations; on the one hand, they could be as energetic and heavy as they were the first time, on the other hand, ten years into their career later, would they be bored or nonchalant? Hey, at least either way it wasn't going to rain on us. Well, time might have passed, but Trivium don't seem to be bored of doing what they do so well, and played a great set that started with the title track from their new album, Silence in the Snow, before going straight for favourites Strife and Rain. They continued the mixture of old and new, whilst proving that none of their albums sound as good as the band do live. By the time that they got to the encore of Pull Harder... and In Waves, there was no doubt that being on stage is what they do best. They've been accused of being Metallica wannabes, and accused of writing metal songs that are a bit by-the-numbers, but no one can accuse them of doing any less than winning at putting on a live rock 'n' roll show.
8/10
