"I remember coming to the studio and the producer just had his head in his hands and he was like, ‘Oh no, no, no!’" Why Matt Heafy had to delete and re-record all the guitar parts on a Trivium classic

Many things can go wrong when you’re in a band. However, one of the worst, hands down, has to be finishing an entire record only to realize that all your guitar parts are slightly out of tune… meaning you have to re-record everything. This is exactly what happened to Trivium’s Matt Heafy during the recording of the band’s landmark album Ascendancy.

“We recorded and finished the entire record in drop D flat tuning,” Heafy tells Metal Hammer. “I remember coming to the studio and Jason [Suecof, producer] just had his head in his hands and he was like, ‘Oh no, no, no!’

“The whole record was slightly out of tune because that guitar wasn’t holding its pitch. So, we actually deleted everything, tuned the guitar up half a step, and redid the whole album again.”

Trivium - Ascendancy (Audio) - YouTube

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Thankfully, their perseverance paid off. While Ascendency peaked at a modest No. 79 on the UK album charts when it was released in 2005, it topped the UK Rock & Metal Albums and even broke into the US Billboard 200.

Furthermore, it immediately received widespread critical acclaim, with singles Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr and Dying In Your Arms becoming instant classics.

“I’d got a copy of Ascendancy before it came out and we loved it,” Bullet For My Valentine's Matt Tuck, who also took part in Metal Hammer's interview, chimes in.

“It was fucking wild, for a bunch of kids to write that? Mad respect. I think I did a photoshoot with a Trivium t-shirt on, too. I like to think I played my part in sharing the word!”

The new issue of Metal Hammer is available now from Magazines Direct.