Back in the USA: Trivium’s Matt Heafy and Travis Smith, fresh from the UK where they were mixing their Roadrunner debut – Ascendancy – with Andy Sneap. Now back, the band is ready to hit the road down South, as they have four dates lined up with Fear Factory starting tomorrow night (17/11) in South Carolina. And speaking of hitting the road, it is now official that bassist/vocalist Paolo Gregoletto (formerly of south Florida’s Metal Militia) is indeed a permanent addition to the Trivium family, and will be with the band on this upcoming string of dates. Paolo had toured with the band during the Road Rage tour this summer, and recorded with the band on Ascendancy. Official words from the band on this addition are as follows: “Paolo not only brings his musical talents and skills to Trivium, he brings a determined, can-do attitude and a positive energy that fits extremely well with who we are, what we are about and what we like to do. Paolo had this to say about becoming a member of Trivium, “I was recording material for my project with Jason (Audio Hammer Studios) back in June and Matt, Travis and Cory dropped by to listen in and hang out. A few days later we all got together to jam and from the first song we played together I knew there was a musical chemistry between us. “I was asked to fill in on bass and back up vocals for the Road Rage Tour in August and it was an incredible experience. I am extremely excited to be joining Trivium – we had a great time recording ‘ASCENDANCY’ together and I can’t wait till we hit the road again.” Matt says – “Paolo G… where do I start? Well for starters he obviously can play bass like a bad-ass, so what separates him from the numerous other bassists in the scene? Aside from rocking out pentatonic blues shred runs on ‘A Gunshot to the Head Trepidation’ (one of our new songs that will be on our new album ‘ASCENDANCY’) to tearing into lightning speed thrash riffs on ‘Declaration’ (another new tune)…Paolo can: play guitar, sing (which he is doing live all the time with us now) and scream a quite menacing scream (also featured live). I think we’re finally complete.” Corey adds “Paolo definitely has what we have been looking for – great player, singer and just a really cool dude… now our lineup is complete and better then ever.” Travis sums it up this way: “Paolo brings a lot to the band – he is a very good addition and a bad ass bass player.” That being said, Paolo, welcome aboard. Till the next Trivium update, stay metal… Trivium Ascendancy coming Feb 28.