Surprisingly, I’ve never had chance to listen to Trivium’s first album. I’ve always meant to check it out but either had something come up or never had time to listen to it properly. With the re-release of it however, I’ve thankfully finally had chance to give it a listen.
In comparison with the Trivium of today, it’s a rather different beast. Whilst the modern day version can be considered to be much more polished and melodic, the older is much more aggressive and unpolished. Whether that is more to your taste, is not for me to judge or determine.
Alongside the re-release, several additional unseen and/or unheard songs have been added to the bonus version. These vary in quality from some being a modern day standard and others being of demo quality from yesteryear. For example, “The Storm” and “Sworn” sound like they could easily have been taken from the Shogun sessions, whereas “Thrust” sounds more like a garage room demo.
Attached along at the end are three demo versions of tracks from Ascendency. Whilst I’m not sure why the band decided to add them, it is nice to hear what the songs would have sounded like back in the practice room. “The Deceived” in particular has much more intensity and power than as was observed in the album track. Whilst it may be lacking it’s trademark harmonies and the first chorus, it’s still a great track and ends off the bonus tracks on the album rather well.
Whilst it would have been nice for the band to have released either a remixed or remastered version of the first album, Ab Initio still holds up against today’s ever-shifting standards of metal. For me however, it’s the bonus tracks that set it apart from being just a simple re-release. By including those, they’ve made the re-release that bit more special and also a must have for any Trivium collectors out there.
Ab Initio is released today via Roadrunner Records.
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