Ember to Inferno is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Trivium. It was released on October 14, 2003, through Lifeforce Records and was produced by Jason Suecof and the band themselves.
| Ember to Inferno | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 14, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | June–July 2003 | |||
| Studio | Audiohammer Studios, Sanford, Florida[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 49:32 | |||
| Label | Lifeforce | |||
| Producer |
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| Trivium studio album chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
 Ab Initio cover | ||||
Background
editTrivium formed in 1999 with the band's first lineup consisting of guitarist Jarred Bonaparte, vocalist/bassist Brad Lewter, and drummer Travis Smith. Matt Heafy would join the band in 2000 as lead guitarist but would also take over lead vocal duties after Lewter's departure. The band would experience more lineup changes before recording its first demo, Ruber ("The Red Demo"), in 2001 with the lineup of Heafy on vocals and guitar, Brent Young on bass and backing vocals, and Smith on drums. George Moore would temporarily join the band as a second guitarist. In 2002, the band started to record its second demo, Caeruleus ("The Blue Demo").[2] Released in early 2003, the demo would find its way to German record label Lifeforce Records who would sign Trivium.[3] The band would then enter the studio to record its debut studio album with producer Jason Suecof.
Overview
editThis album is the only full-length release by the band with former bassist Brent Young. Frontman Matt Heafy was 17 years old when the album was written and recorded.
Corey Beaulieu toured in support of the album, but did not play on the album according to the re-release booklet. Beaulieu would not join the band until after recording of Ember to Inferno had concluded.
The 2004 reissue of the album includes early versions of "The Deceived" and "Blinding Tears Will Break the Skies". Both songs were re-recorded for Ascendancy, with the latter appearing only on the 2006 special edition. "Demon" is taken from the Trivium EP.
"Inception: The Bleeding Skies" is "A View of Burning Empires" played in reverse.
On December 2, 2014, it was announced by Matt Heafy on Twitter that Ember to Inferno would be re-released again with new artwork along with the band's early demo EPs.[4] The re-release was officially revealed on October 14, 2016, via Trivium's Facebook page. It was released on December 2, 2016, two years after the initial announcement by Heafy. The re-release is dubbed Ab Initio, Latin for "From the Beginning".
"Pillars of Serpents" was re-recorded by Trivium for their 2017 album The Sin and the Sentence. Titled "Pillars of Serpents '17", it was included as a bonus track exclusively on the Japanese edition of the album. The re-recording was widely released to services such as YouTube, Spotify and iTunes on March 22, 2019 under the title of "Pillars of Serpents (2019)".[5][6]
In 2024, the title track "Ember to Inferno" was re-recorded and used as part of the promotional campaign by Bogren Digital for Trivium Drums and Trivium Ampknob plugins.[7]
Musical style
editEmber to Inferno has been generally described as metalcore,[8][9][1][10] melodic death metal,[11][12][13] thrash metal,[14][15][8] alternative metal,[1] power metal,[1] "fantasy metal"[1] and progressive metal.[16]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Sputnikmusic | [9] |
| LouderSound | [17] |
Track listing
editAll tracks are written by Matt Heafy. All musical arrangement by Heafy and Travis Smith
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Inception: The Bleeding Skies" (instrumental) | 0:35 |
| 2. | "Pillars of Serpents" | 4:35 |
| 3. | "If I Could Collapse the Masses" | 4:41 |
| 4. | "Fugue (A Revelation)" | 4:21 |
| 5. | "Requiem" | 4:53 |
| 6. | "Ember to Inferno" | 4:11 |
| 7. | "Ashes" (instrumental) | 0:53 |
| 8. | "To Burn the Eye" | 7:01 |
| 9. | "Falling to Grey" | 5:36 |
| 10. | "My Hatred" | 4:34 |
| 11. | "When All Light Dies" | 6:23 |
| 12. | "A View of Burning Empires" (instrumental) | 1:48 |
| Total length: | 49:32 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "The Storm" (from Caeruleus – The Blue Demo) | 6:05 |
| 14. | "Sworn" (from Caeruleus – The Blue Demo) | 4:29 |
| Total length: | 60:06 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Blinding Tears Will Break the Skies" (from Flavus – The Yellow Demo) | 5:41 |
| 14. | "The Deceived" (from Flavus – The Yellow Demo) | 6:00 |
| 15. | "Demon" (from Caeruleus – The Blue Demo) | 3:27 |
| Total length: | 64:40 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pain" | 7:18 |
| 2. | "Thrust" | 5:38 |
| 3. | "Lake of Fire" | 6:14 |
| 4. | "To Burn the Eye" | 6:59 |
| 5. | "Requiem" | 5:01 |
| 6. | "Fugue" | 4:29 |
| 7. | "My Hatred" | 4:51 |
| 8. | "The Storm" | 6:03 |
| 9. | "Sworn" | 4:27 |
| 10. | "Demon" | 3:29 |
| 11. | "Like Light to the Flies" (Heafy, Corey Beaulieu) | 5:37 |
| 12. | "Blinding Tears Will Break the Skies" | 5:42 |
| 13. | "The Deceived" (Heafy, Beaulieu) | 5:48 |
Notes
- Tracks 1 to 3 are from Ruber (The Red Demo).
- Tracks 4 to 10 are from Caeruleus (The Blue Demo).
- Tracks 11 to 13 are from Flavus (The Yellow Demo).
Personnel
editTrivium
- Matt Heafy – lead vocals, guitars
- Brent Young – bass, backing vocals
- Travis Smith – drums, percussion
- Corey Beaulieu – lead guitar on Flavus (The Yellow Demo)
Additional musicians
- Jason Suecof – keyboards on "Inception: The Bleeding Skies" and "A View of Burning Empires", lead guitar on "Ember to Inferno" and "To Burn the Eye", choir vocals on "When All Light Dies"
- Alex Vieira – lead guitar on "When All Light Dies"
- galamity (credited as George Moore) – acoustic guitar on "A View of Burning Empires"
- Icky – acoustic guitar
Production
- Jason Suecof – producer, mixing, engineer
- Matt Heafy – producer
- Travis Smith – producer
- Brent Young – producer
- Tom Morris – mastering
- Christophe Szpajdel – logo (2016 re-issue)
Charts
edit| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] | 85 |
| UK Rock Album Chart [19] | 15 |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Henderson, Alex. "Ember To Inferno – Trivium". Allmusic.
- ^ "Trivium Releases". Trivium.org. Archived from the original on August 22, 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2008.
- ^ "Official biography". Trivium.org. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
- ^ "Matthew Kiichi Heafy on Twitter".
- ^ Espronceda, Karen (March 22, 2019). "Trivium Release Re-Recorded "Pillars of Serpents"". Metal Sucks. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Pillars of Serpents (2019) - Single by Trivium". Apple Music. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
- ^ "Trivium Drums".
- ^ a b Prato, Greg (December 1, 2003). "Trivium Ember to Inferno". Exclaim!. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- ^ a b Stagno, Mike. "Ember To Inferno – Trivium". Sputnikmusic.
- ^ Loftus, Johnny. "Trivium - Ascendancy". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
- ^ "Trivium – Ember To Inferno: Ab Initio album review". Louder Sound. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Trivium's Matt Heafy on the band's "Cursed" debut album 'Ember to Inferno'". music feeds. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ "The 20 greatest Trivium songs - ranked". Kerrang!. Sam Law. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ Jurek, Thom. "Trivium The Crusade". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- ^ Loftus, Johnny. "Trivium - Ascendancy". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
- ^ Loftus, Johnny. "Trivium - Ascendancy". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
- ^ "Trivium – Ember To Inferno: Ab Initio album review". Louder Sound. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "ARIA CHART WATCH #398". auspOp. December 10, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
- ^ "UK Top 40 Rock Albums". Radio 1. Retrieved 18 January 2018.