Trivium and Chimaira live at Koko, London, March 18th 2010

My live association with Trivium goes back to their very first tour of the UK in May 2005, when they were on the Roadrunner Records new bands rotating headliners tour alongside 3 Inches Of Blood and Still Remains which hit the (old) Garage in Highbury. By the end of that tour Trivium were headlining every night and had begun their very quick rise to the top during their Ascendancy period.

Whilst the "next Metallica" hype around the band has died off somewhat since (which is probably a good thing, as it earned the band alot of detractors), they had been consistently one of the best live bands every time they hit the UK over the following 5 years, so I was at Koko for the first time for a metal show, and the first of my 2 visits in 10 days (the second being for Kamelot, you can find the review of the Kamelot show here).

By the time myself and Rob had navigated the queue into the venue openers Rise To Remain were already through most of their set, but that didn't stop Austin and the boys from getting the crowd to participate in a lively early Walls Of Death, which saw bodies flying and basically set the tone for the rest of the evening. Rise To Remain have been often mentioned on this site due to their numerous support appearances with the lives of Five Finger Death Punch, and they have continued their improvements from 2009 into 2010. Having just been announced to play Download, I look forward to seeing them there for more than the 10 minutes I caught on this occasion.

Rise To Remain: On the way up

If there's 2 things I do not like in metal, Its Job For A Cowboy style Pig Squeal/Death Grunt vocals and lots of Blastbeats. As a result I was never going to enjoy Whitechapel much, and true to form, I didn't. They're just not my thing at all. A few guys making right arses of themselves in the pit kept things entertaining during their just under half-an-hour set.

Whitechapel: brrrrreeeeeeee

Most enjoyable however were the always reliable Chimaira. The NWOAHM boys from Cleveland are old hands at this now and kicked off their destructive set with The Venom Inside, opening track from last years fantastic return to form, The Infection. Wasting no time they launched straight into Resurrection and kept things mental with Worthless, both from 2007's Resurrection.

The pits had been busy but that was nothing compared to when things were ramped up for the classic Power Trip, with the band going crazy on stage and the fans going even more crazy on the floor. Mark Hunter then took a couple of minutes to talk to the Koko crowd before introducing another new track, Secrets Of The Dead.

Chimaira: Nothing remained after this excellent set!

They quickly took things back into classic Chimaira territory with the awesome Severed before following into the hugely popular Nothing Remains, complete with massive circle pit at the drop halfway through. They finished things off with a quality double header of tracks from The Impossibility of Reason, starting with The Dehumanizing Process before topping it with the skull crushing Pure Hatred, ending a fantastic 45 minute set. It was one of those support sets where you could have quite happily gone home there and then, but we still had Trivium to come!

Chimaira's setlist was:

• The Venom Inside
• Resurrection
• Worthless
• Power Trip
• Secrets Of The Dead
• Severed
• Nothing Remains
• The Dehumanizing Process
• Pure Hatred

When Andrew WK's Party Hard hit the PA as the intro music, you could feel the excitement level in the venue go up several levels. This was then replaced by The End Of Everything, which prompted the arrival of Matt, Corey, Paolo (sporting a new skinhead look) and new boy Nick Augusto who launched straight into Rain (which is the all time classic Trivium opening). Koko responded by turning the entire downstairs into a warzone, there was nowhere safe from the circle pits that were appearing everywhere and the general mayhem that ensued. Not wanting to let up, they then launched straight into Drowned and Torn Asunder prompting a mass singalong for the chorus from those who were still standing.

"Holy F**king Shit" were the first words to come out of Matt Heafy's mouth and I can't say I blamed him. To see this level of enjoyment/carnage at a show is rare, even in London. Not wanting to slow down, the Trivium boys unleashed Like Light To The Flies prompting an enormous circle pit and large amounts of circle headbanging from all those with long hair. Matt talks a bit more before unleashing the hugely popular Throes of Perdition in the first visit to most recent album Shogun, Heafy's vocals sounding particularly impressive on this song.

Before following up with Down From The Sky, Matt mentions how the UK was the first place to give Trivium their break and a musical home and how it is still probably their best territory 5 years on. This was signified to me by the wide range of ages and people in the audience, something I have not really seen at a Trivium show before which suggests their fanbase is widening which is only a good thing for the band. The barnstorming Down From The Sky came and went before a return to Ascendancy with the title track of the album not heard in the UK "since like 2006 I think" according to Mr Heafy.

Back in time we went for Pillar of Serpents off first album Ember to Inferno, the chaos levels cranking up once again and a clean shaven Corey (always impressive shredding away) displaying equally impressive co-vocals with Matt before handing growling duties back to Matt for Insurrection. Anthem (We Are The Fire) prompted the night's biggest singalong, before Nick Augusto was introduced to everyone to large applause and kicked off new song Shattering The Skies Above which is a fantastic new song, save for the 5 seconds of blastbeats in it, we can let them off for that.

Nick and Corey Kicking All Our Asses

"We got 4 songs left, no fake encores, no bullshit, just 4 songs to go" announced Matt (rather refreshing when a band does that in my opinion). "We only pull out this cover on the good shows, this is Slave New World". Cue Koko being blasted with a dose of Sepultura Trivium style. We were then informed we had the night's one rest period as Dying In Your Arms was dedicated to the ladies. Matt and Paolo's instructions for everyone to bounce meant the arrival of A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation (cheers to the dickhead who punched me in the back of the head as hard as he could) before sheer pandemonium unleashed for the night closing Pull Harder.

"We are Trivium, and we will always come back" is the nights traditional send off. When it comes to the UK, you know they mean it every time. Trivium and the UK, London in particular have always had a very special relationship, and from this evidence it is only growing stronger with every visit. An absolutely fantastic performance, Travis Smith a distant memory thanks to Nick Augusto's skills and the future seems very bright indeed in the world of Trivium as they head back to florida to record album number five.

Trivium's setlist was:

• The End Of Everything
• Rain
• Drowned and Torn Asunder
• Like Light To The Flies
• Throes Of Perdition
• Down From The Sky
• Ascendancy
• Pillar of Serpents
• Insurrection
• Anthem (We Are The Fire)
• Shattering The Skies Above
• Slave New World (Sepultura Cover)
• Dying In Your Arms
• A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation
• Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr

Tags: UK Metal Tours, Trivium, Chimaira, Whitechapel, Rise To Remain, Trivium UK Tour 2010

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