At three o’clock in the day, a good four hours before the doors even open, there are already around fifty teenage fans gathered outside of Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre hoping to catch a glimpse of their new heroes, Trivium. It’s nothing unusual to have fans queuing a few hours before a venue even opens its doors but what is surprising is that this is the first time that Trivium have played in Ireland and if you went back six months it’s doubtful that even fifty people in the country had even heard of the band. That’s all changed now and Trivium are a big deal. One British rock magazine even called them the new Metallica quite recently. Whether you like them or not though one thing is clear and that is that you are not going to get away from Trivium easily so you may as well jump onboard and see what the fuss is all about.

By the time they hit the stage the crowd has been nicely warmed up by the workman-like metalcore of All That Remains. Rushing onto the stage like seasoned pros Matt Heafy and co adopt the old foot-on-monitor stance and lash straight into it. Galloping and pounding metal riffs are flourished, solos are peeled off like so many fresh oranges and members rush around the stage, while the sold out crowd laps it up. It should be perfect. It should be unstoppable. But it’s not. Trivium are missing something and it’s difficult to figure out exactly what it is, but like a certain flavour that’s absent from a meal it’s very, very noticeable. Not that you’d know it to look at the front half of the venue which is heaving under the weight of avid teenage fans, alternately clutching at the stage and singing along or pummelling each other in the feverish mosh pits that are constantly erupting. Last night in Belfast the crowd got so carried away that while surging forward they caused a barrier to collapse. Tonight the fanatical levels of excitement never reach that apex but that’s probably only because the barrier here is a lot sturdier.

Elements of Iron Maiden and Megadeth are obvious in Trivium’s sound and stage presence. Matt Heafy may not be the most astonishing frontman ever but given time he could very easily develop into one. He is after all only 19. He plays guitar like a big boy though.

It’s not until the final burst of ‘Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation’ and ‘Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr’ that the old school heads raise up though and the four Trivium lads prove that they’ve got some quality songs tucked under their belts. The devoted at the front go fanatical while the curious and the bored nearer the back looked on surprised. A couple more songs like these and maybe it’ll be time to start believing the hype surrounding them. Until then though not everyone’s convinced by these young upstarts but at least they’ve got the attention of a new generation of metal fans and that can’t be a bad thing. Who knows where they’ll be in six months from now? [END]