Venue: The Coliseum @ Hard Rock Hotel, Singapore
Date: 17th March 2023
Promoter: LAMC Productions
Review by: Maisha G.
Special Thanks: The LAMC Productions team
Photos by Alvin Ho
I stumbled upon one of my tweets from the year 2010, and I quote:
“Hi Trivium, please come to Singapore. Your Entrance of The Conflagration solo never fails to give me eargasm each time I listen to it.”
A 13-year-long manifestation finally came to fruition when Trivium was added to the bill for the Singapore Rock Fest, a highly anticipated festival that beckoned the metal community to come together from Singapore and all over Asia and raise the horns in unison for the genre of music they love the most.
Clad in my Behemoth shirt and my comfiest pair of pants and omitting the whole Dr. Marts footwear and replacing it with my Nike slip-ons, I walked into the concert venue to be greeted with a sea of humans clad in black from head to toe, which puts me right at home. And looking out to the front, the stage was adorned with a huge banner with the band’s name was sprawled across in the accompaniment of the intricate designs that made the stage pop like no other. People were sprawled across the venue, finding their spot to enjoy the night through and through.
The venue started filling up as the songs playing in the background was getting the crowd ready for the sensational night. As soon as “Run To The Hills” played in the background, the lights dimmed out and the crowd cheered as we were greeted by the band on stage. It felt surreal, and the night was actually happening as I try to grasp the moment.
The blaring of the guitars to the familiar tune got the crowd roaring as Trivium opened the night with “Rain”, a popular number off their Ascendancy album from 2005, at a time when most of us just discovered the band, this title happened to be one of the songs that got me hooked to the band, back in the MySpace era.
It was only the first song in and we could see the various mosh pits formed as the tune of “Amongst The Shadows & The Stones” chimed in to beckon the crowd to move in circles with their fists pumping in the air. A relatively new song that still retains the band’s identity with what we were familiar with back then.
The night progressed into an amalgamation of all songs old and new and the nostalgia hits when popular title tracks of their 2017 album The Sin and The Sentence rang across the hall to the tune of “Beyond Oblivion” and the mosh pits grew bigger than before. It was one of the albums that I really enjoyed in its entirety apart from my ultimate favourite album from them in 2006 titled The Crusade. This was also back when Matt was rocking his beautiful tresses, compared to the hairstyle he has now. Though I have to say he looks damn good with both looks – long hair and bald. That man has range and what is more telling is that his live performance felt exactly like all the recorded songs. In fact, he sounded even better live than I could ever imagine.
Matt Heafy is known for his activities on Twitch and also being the big foodie that he is, he loved the food Singapore had to offer. He also said “I know that Chili Crab is a crowd favourite but I prefer the Black Pepper Crab”. No truer words were spoken, so I thought because I am with him on this. And was also saying his ‘thank you’s to the crowd in our four major languages. He sure knew how to win our hearts over.
The short dialogue did not stop the crowd from moving as the bodies hit during “Until The World Goes Cold” off their 2015 album, Silence in the Snow. In my opinion, that album did not garner enough traction as it was also the year when other incredible bands bestowed us with amazing comeback albums. This particular Trivium album was not given enough credit for the amazing tracks they put on and this song happened to be one of them. My friend who was with me said that it was his first time listening to the song and what was more remarkable was hearing it live and falling in tune and love for the song almost instantaneously.
The familiar riffs exploded through the speakers as Matt teased us with the familiar tune that put them back on the map from the yesteryears, the single off The Sin and The Sentence which its lyrics I could remember, word for word. Matt mouthed the words of the song and I joined in unison and held my fist in the air – “What will it take? What will it take? To rip the heart from your hate”. I was standing beside the soundman booth, away from the main crowd, just to soak in the atmosphere for most parts of the show but I found myself walking towards the moshpit and I just wanted to join in the fun as I sang my heart out to one of the songs that still sticks in my playlist and have it on repeat. I sang each and every word of the song. I was still getting used to getting my bearings going to metal gigs since its resumption but that night, it felt right and I knew that there is no place else I would rather be than there.
The night closed with an encore and “In Waves” shook the stage, and the crowd literally was let loose with no reservations whatsoever. I was pretty bummed that they did not perform “Entrance of The Conflagration” but albeit that, the 13 year wait was well worth it. Though my back hurts a little more than usual now given the advanced age, I still remember back when I enjoyed Trivium as a 16-year-old girl. It never changed and though I am all grown up, the little part of the rebellious teenager lived her night that night. Thank you LAMC for the amazing comeback for metal shows.