''The Crusade'' is the third studio album by American heavy metal band

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but the ...

. It was released on October 10, 2006, through

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. History The label was launched in 1980 in t ...

and was produced by

Jason Suecof Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder ...

and the band themselves. The album marked a significant musical departure from the

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

sound of preceding album '' Ascendancy'', with the band instead bringing their

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

influences to the fore. Accordingly, vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy sings with primarily 'clean' vocals throughout ''The Crusade'', rather than utilizing the 'screaming' style heard on ''Ascendancy''. ''The Crusade'' peaked at number 7 in United Kingdom and was later certified silver in for sales in excess of 60,000 copies. In the United States, the album debuted at No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart on its release, selling 31,000 copies in the US in its first week. It has sold over 100,000 copies in the United States.

Background

Before the album was released, three songs from the album were released on the band's MySpace: "Detonation", "

Anthem (We Are the Fire) "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" is a song by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Trivium (band), Trivium. The song was released as the third single from the band's third studio album ''The Crusade (album), The Crusade''. The single failed to ch ...

", and "Entrance of the Conflagration". Music videos for "Entrance of the Conflagration", "Anthem (We Are the Fire)", " The Rising", "To the Rats", and "Becoming the Dragon" were produced and released on Roadrunner's website. "

" was a hit for the band in the United Kingdom, with the track debuting at number 1 on the

UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

and spending several further weeks in the top 10. As of 2019, the single is also the band's only track to break into the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at number 40. The track "Detonation" is available on the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

release of the video game ''

Guitar Hero II ''Guitar Hero II'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the second main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series and is the sequel to 2005's ...

'' as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

while the track "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" is featured on ''

Burnout Dominator ''Burnout Dominator'' is a racing video game developed by EA UK and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. It retains the core gameplay of the series, as players race at top speeds through dozens of World Tour ev ...

'', '' Sleeping Dogs'' and '' Saints Row 2''.

Composition

Influences, style and themes

The album represents a drastic change in style from their previous album, '' Ascendancy'', abandoning the metalcore genre and featuring a style described generally as

and reminiscent of thrash metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's 1980s albums, along with

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

and

speed metal Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...

. As a result, vocalist

Matt Heafy Matthew Kiichi Heafy (born January 26, 1986) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for heavy metal band Trivium. He was also the lead vocalist for the band Capharnaum, along with Trivium's former producer Jason ...

used much less screaming and more of a clean vocal style similar to

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

throughout most of the record. Heafy justified this by noting that "the four of us were never into bands that scream and we don't like any of the current bands that scream, so we asked ourselves why we're doing it." Screamed vocals (along with the metalcore genre itself) would return as a regular attribute on the band's proceeding album, ''

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'', although screaming can be found during some select rare moments in ''The Crusade'', most notably in "Becoming the Dragon". Lyrical themes on the album include famous killings. "Entrance of the Conflagration" is about

Andrea Yates Andrea Pia Yates ( Kennedy; born July 2, 1964) is an American woman from Houston, Texas, who confessed to drowning her five children in their bathtub on June 20, 2001. She had severe postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, and schizophreni ...

' murder of her five children, "Unrepentant" is about Nazir Ahmad's murder of his three daughters and stepdaughter, "Contempt Breeds Contamination" is about the death of

Amadou Diallo In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named Amadou Diallo (born September 2, 1975) was fired upon with 41 rounds and shot a total of 19 times by four New York City Police Department plainclothes office ...

, and "And Sadness Will Sear" is based upon the murder of

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

. Another common theme on this album is unity or "being united" with songs like "Anthem (We Are the Fire)" and "The Rising". Another lyrical theme that is noticed is in the song "Becoming the Dragon", which is based on the Japanese mythological story of the dragon (how the koi will swim up the waterfall known as "Dragon's Gate" where it is thus transformed into the mythological beast).

Track listing

All lyrics by

, and all music by Heafy, except where noted.

Personnel

Trivium *

– lead vocals, guitars *

Corey Beaulieu Corey King Beaulieu (born November 22, 1983) is the guitarist of American heavy metal band Trivium. At live shows, he also performs backing and, sometimes, lead screaming vocals. Biography Personal life Born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, Beaulieu i ...

– guitars, backing vocals *

Paolo Gregoletto Paolo Francesco Gregoletto (born September 14, 1985) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the heavy metal band Trivium. Music career Trivium Gregoletto joined Trivium on September 5, 2004 when Matt Heafy, ...

– bass, backing vocals * Travis Smith – drums, percussion Additional performers *

– additional lead guitar on "The Rising" Production *Produced by Trivium and

*Engineered by Mark Lewis and Jason Suecof *Mixed by

Colin Richardson Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer. He has worked on over 100 albums and is most frequently associated with heavy metal and its subgenres. Career Some of the bands he has worked for include: * 3 In ...

*Mix engineer and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

– Matt Hyde *Assistant engineer – Laurence Aldridge *Mastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crusade, The 2006 albums Trivium (band) albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums produced by Jason Suecof