In March 2005 Trivium released Ascendancy, their debut album for Roadrunner Records. Filled with brutal technical precision and buttressed by dual shredding guitars, blast beats and vocals that move from a scream to a croon, Ascendancy is a pure metal album in the truest sense of the word. Featuring the talents of Matt Heafy on guitars/vocals, Travis Smith on drums, Corey Beaulieu on guitar and Paolo Gregoletto on bass, Trivium is a band whose youth (Heafy is 19, the oldest member is 23) belies their sound.

Musically, the Jason Suecof -produced Ascendancy defies easy definition; possessing elements of thrash, progressive and hardcore metal to create a sound that is at once timeless and ahead of its time. Lyrically, the album is an open wound, skin peeled back to reveal the inner machinations of the 18 yr old Heafy and the scars of his lost innocence. “This album deals with many realizations based around this theme,” says Heafy. Ascendancy, to me, means the overcoming of life's obstacles¬-to rise above everything and overcome the corruption of the world around me.” The track “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr”, a not-too-subtlely cloaked take on our government, describes a villainous tyrant who simply kills and destroys at will, pushes his faith upon all, is hated by all world powers, yet is still loved by the people he rules. The chilling track “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation” deals with the grim realities of domestic abuse and its cyclical realities. “Like Light to the Flies,” which appears on the MTV2 Headbangers Ball Vol. 2 compilation and the video for which received a vast number of spins on HBB, is about people’s seemingly insatiable attraction to tragedy.

The album's artwork, created by Paul Romano (Mastodon) carries on the lyrical themes addressed throughout the album. The cover, a painting of a mythological creature coming out of its cocoon and rising from the ashes of a city below is the embodiment of Ascendancy.

Formed in 2000 in Orlando, FL, by high school friends Travis Smith and Matt Heafy, Trivium made a name on the local scene by winning several battle of the bands competitions. After various line-up changes, Beaulieu joined the group and they released Ember To Inferno on Lifeforce Records in 2003. Solidifying the line-up, Gregoletto joined the band in time for the US Road Rage tour with Chimaira and Machine Head. In addition, Trivium have toured with Killswitch Engage, In Flames, Fear Factory, Iced Earth, & Danzig. The band hit the UK in May 2005 with label mates 3 Inches Of Blood and Still Remains for the Road Rage tour, and then opened the main stage at the Download Festival to 35,000 people - after being upgraded from the 3rd stage! In September, they completed a sold out 19-date UK run (which included seven upgrades), before touring Europe and Asia with Dark Tranquility/Arch Enemy. The band return to the UK in March 2006 for a further sixteen set-to-be sold out dates prior to a Download appearance again in June.

With the album already certified Silver in the UK (more than 60,000 albums shipped), the band have now graced multiple covers of Rocksound, Kerrang!, Total Guitar, and Metal Hammer in the UK, as well as picking up a nomination in the Metal Hammer Awards (Incoming Award for Best New Band) and winning the Kerrang! Award for Best International Newcomer (also nominated for Best Album)! Following several #1 ratings in the end of year critics & readers polls for both the band and the album, ‘Ascendancy’ continues to be one of Roadrunner’s fastest selling albums ever.