Unless you have been living on another planet for the last few years you will have found it impossible to get away from Florida metal gods in waiting Trivium. From high profile guest slots on tour,cover shots o every magazine on earth and articles in various musicians magazines, the list goes on and on. So does fourth album Shogun live up to the hype surrounding the band?

Well after playing the album to death the answer is a most definite YES. There's a feeling that everyone involved knew how crucial this release was going to be for the band's career and have thus given their all in an effort to create something very special. it's all  killer, no filler. The most startling aspect, and the most immediately obvious, is the sheer heaviness of it all, everything is played as if lives depended on it and, from a technical viewpoint, the individual performances show each member has moved up to the big league. In particular the guitar work of Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu has moved to another level, all the riffs and solo’s are more intense and clinically precise but the whole album is a relentless juggernaut of power, passion and creativity that somehow sounds contemporary yet retro at the same time. Much has been made of Trivium resembling early Metallica and at times those comparisons have been well founded but with “Shogun” they are well and truly standing on their own feet.

Opening track “Kirisute Gomen” sets the tone of the album with the musical equivalent of “shock and awe”. Glorious harmony guitars, frantic double pedal drumming, extravagant solo’s and vocals that demand you listen all come together in a maelstrom of musical madness but in a manner that always keeps its eyes on melody. Songs like” Down From The Sky”, “Throes Of Perdition” and “Insurrection” are destined to become live favourites and the closing track title track shows. over its nigh on twelve minutes, just how far Trivium have travelled. Who could have thought when this young band burst on the scene that they would ever create such masterful and epic metal?

Musically Shogun is a challenging affair, yet remains accessible and, as a result, the band have delivered a truly outstanding album which even Metallica fans will have to concede pips “Death Magnetic” for sheer unbridled excitement.