title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In the film, Godzilla symbolizes nuclear holocaust from Japan's perspective and has since been culturally identified as a strong metaphor for nuclear weapons. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind." Director Ishirō Honda filmed Godzilla's Tokyo rampage to mirror the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stating, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: On March 1, 1954, just a few months before the film was made, the Japanese fishing vessel "Daigo Fukuryū Maru" ("Lucky Dragon No. 5") had been showered with radioactive fallout from the U.S. military's 15-megaton "Castle Bravo" hydrogen bomb test at nearby Bikini Atoll. The boat's catch was contaminated, spurring a panic in Japan about the safety of eating fish, and the crew was sickened, with one crew member eventually dying from radiation sickness. This event led to the emergence of a large and enduring anti-nuclear movement that gathered 30 million signatures on an anti-nuclear petition by August 1955 and eventually became institutionalized as the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. The film's opening scene of Godzilla destroying a Japanese vessel is a direct reference to these events, and had a strong impact on Japanese viewers with this recent event still fresh in the mind of the public.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Academics Anne Allison, Thomas Schnellbächer, and Steve Ryfle have said that "Godzilla" contains political and cultural undertones that can be attributed to what the Japanese had experienced in World War II and that Japanese audiences were able to connect emotionally to the monster. They theorized that these viewers saw Godzilla as a victim and felt that the creature's backstory reminded them of their experiences in World War II. These academics have also claimed that as the atomic bomb testing that woke Godzilla was carried out by the United States, the film in a way can be seen to blame the United States for the problems and struggles that Japan experienced after World War II had ended. They also felt that the film could have served as a cultural coping method to help the people of Japan move on from the events of the war.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Brian Merchant from "Motherboard" called the film "a bleak, powerful metaphor for nuclear power that still endures today" and on its themes, he stated: "It's an unflinchingly bleak, deceptively powerful film about coping with and taking responsibility for incomprehensible, manmade tragedy. Specifically, nuclear tragedies. It's arguably the best window into post-war attitudes towards nuclear power we've got—as seen from the perspective of its greatest victims." Terrence Rafferty from "The New York Times" said Godzilla was "an obvious gigantic, unsubtle, grimly purposeful metaphor for the atomic bomb" and felt the film was "extraordinarily solemn, full of earnest discussions".


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Mark Jacobson from the website of "New York" magazine said that Godzilla "transcends humanist prattle. Very few constructs have so perfectly embodied the overriding fears of a particular era. He is the symbol of a world gone wrong, a work of man that once created cannot be taken back or deleted. He rears up out of the sea as a creature of no particular belief system, apart from even the most elastic version of evolution and taxonomy, a reptilian id that lives inside the deepest recesses of the collective unconscious that cannot be reasoned with, a merciless undertaker who broaches no deals." Regarding the film, Jacobson stated, "Honda's first Godzilla... is in line with these inwardly turned post-war films and perhaps the most brutally unforgiving of them. Shame-ridden self-flagellation was in order, and who better to supply the rubber-suited psychic punishment than the Rorschach-shaped big fella himself?"


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Tim Martin from "The Daily Telegraph" (London) said that the original 1954 film was "a far cry from its B-movie successors. It was a sober allegory of a film with ambitions as large as its thrice-normal budget, designed to shock and horrify an adult audience. Its roster of frightening images—cities in flames, overstuffed hospitals, irradiated children—would have been all too familiar to cinemagoers for whom memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still less than a decade old, while its script posed deliberately inflammatory questions about the balance of postwar power and the development of nuclear energy." Martin also commented how the film's themes were omitted in the American version, stating, "Its thematic preoccupation with nuclear energy proved even less acceptable to the American distributors who, after buying the film, began an extensive reshoot and recut for Western markets."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 1954, Toho originally planned to produce , a Japanese-Indonesian co-production that would have starred Ryō Ikebe as a former Japanese soldier who was stationed in the Dutch East Indies during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, and Yoshiko Yamaguchi as his half-Indonesian love interest. However, anti-Japanese sentiment in Indonesia put political pressure on the government to deny visas for the Japanese filmmakers. The film was to be co-produced with Perfini, filmed on location in Jakarta in color (a first for a major Toho production), and was to open markets for Japanese films in Southeast Asia.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka flew to Jakarta to renegotiate with the Indonesian government but was unsuccessful. On the flight back to Japan, he conceived the idea for a giant monster film, inspired by the 1953 film "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and the "Daigo Fukuryū Maru" incident that happened in March 1954. The film's opening sequence is a direct reference to the incident. Tanaka felt the film had potential because nuclear fears were generating news and monster films were becoming popular, due to the financial success of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and the 1952 re-release of "King Kong", the latter of which earned more money than previous releases.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: During his flight, Tanaka wrote an outline with the working title and pitched it to executive producer Iwao Mori. Mori approved the project in mid–April 1954 after special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya agreed to do the film's effects and confirmed that the film was financially feasible. Mori also felt the project was perfect as a vehicle for Tsuburaya and to test the storyboarding system that he instituted at the time. Mori also approved Tanaka's choice to have Ishirō Honda direct the film and shortened the title of the production to "Project G" (G for Giant), as well as giving the production classified status and ordered Tanaka to minimize his attention on other films and mainly focus on "Project G".


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Toho originally intended for Senkichi Taniguchi to direct the film, as he was originally attached to direct "In the Shadow of Glory". However, Taniguchi declined the assignment. Honda was not Toho's first choice for the film's director, but his war-time experience made him an ideal candidate for the film's anti-nuclear themes. Several other directors passed on the project, feeling the idea was "stupid", but Honda accepted the assignment due to this interest in science and "unusual things", stating, "I had no problem taking it seriously." It was during the production of "Godzilla" that Honda worked with assistant director Kōji Kajita for the first time. Afterwards, Kajita would go on to collaborate with Honda as his chief assistant director for 17 films over the course of 10 years. Due to sci-fi films lacking respect from film critics, Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya agreed on depicting a monster attack as if it were a real event, with the serious tone of a documentary.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Tsuburaya submitted an outline of his own, written three years prior to "Godzilla"; it featured a giant octopus attacking ships in the Indian Ocean. In May 1954, Tanaka hired sci-fi writer Shigeru Kayama to write the story. Only 50 pages long and written in 11 days, Kayama's treatment depicted Dr. Yamane wearing dark shades, a cape and living in a European-style house from which he only emerged at night. Godzilla was portrayed as more animal-like by coming ashore to feed on animals, with an ostensibly gorilla-like interest in females. Kayama's story also featured less destruction and borrowed a scene from "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" by having Godzilla attack a lighthouse.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Takeo Murata and Honda co-wrote the screenplay in three weeks, confining themselves in a Japanese inn in Tokyo's Shibuya ward. On writing the script, Murata stated, "Director Honda and I... racked our brains to make Mr. Kayama's original treatment into a full, working vision." Murata said that Tsuburaya and Tanaka pitched their ideas as well. Tanaka requested that they do not spend too much money, while Tsuburaya encouraged them to "do whatever it takes to make it work". Murata and Honda redeveloped key characters and elements by adding Emiko's love triangle. In Kayama's story, Serizawa was depicted as merely a colleague of Dr. Yamane's. Godzilla's full appearance was to be revealed during the Odo Island hurricane but Honda and Murata opted to show parts of the creature as the film built up to his full reveal. Honda and Murata also introduced the characters Hagiwara and Dr. Tanabe in their draft but the role of Shinkichi, who had a substantial role in Kayama's story, was cut down.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Godzilla was designed by Teizō Toshimitsu and Akira Watanabe under Eiji Tsuburaya's supervision. Early on, Tanaka contemplated having the monster be gorilla-like or whale-like in design, due to the name "Gojira" (a combination of the Japanese words for "gorilla", , and "whale", ), but eventually settled on a dinosaur-like design. Kazuyoshi Abe was hired earlier to design Godzilla but his ideas were later rejected due to Godzilla looking too humanoid and mammalian, with a head shaped like a mushroom cloud; however, Abe was retained to help draw the film's storyboards.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Toshimitsu and Watanabe decided to base Godzilla's design on dinosaurs and, by using dinosaur books and magazines as a reference, combined elements of a Tyrannosaurus, Iguanodon and the dorsal fins of a Stegosaurus. Despite wanting to have utilized stop motion animation, Tsuburaya reluctantly settled on suitmation. Toshimitsu sculpted three clay models on which the suit would be based. The first two were rejected but the third was approved by Tsuburaya, Tanaka, and Honda.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The Godzilla suit was constructed by Kanju Yagi, Yasuei Yagi, and Eizo Kaimai, who used thin bamboo sticks and wire to build a frame for the interior of the suit and added metal mesh and cushioning over it to bolster its structure and finally applied coats of latex. Coats of molten rubber were additionally applied, followed by carved indentations and strips of latex glued onto the surface of the suit to create Godzilla's scaly hide. This first version of the suit weighed 100 kilograms (220 pounds). For close-ups, Toshimitsu created a smaller scale, mechanical, hand-operated puppet that sprayed streams of mist from its mouth to act as Godzilla's atomic breath.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka were chosen to perform in the Godzilla suit, due to their strength and endurance. At the first costume fitting, Nakajima fell down while inside the suit, due to the heavy latex and inflexible materials used to create the suit. This first version of the suit was cut in half and used for scenes requiring only partial shots of Godzilla or close-ups, with the lower-half fitted with rope suspenders for Nakajima to wear. For full-body shots, a second identical suit was created which was made lighter than the first suit, but Nakajima was still only able to be inside for three minutes before passing out. Nakajima lost 20 pounds during the production of the film. Nakajima would go on to portray Godzilla and other monsters until his retirement in 1972. Tezuka filmed scenes in the Godzilla suit but, due to his older body, he was unable to fully commit to the physical demands required by the role. As a result, few of his scenes made it to the final cut as very few scenes were considered usable. Tezuka filled in for Nakajima when he was unavailable or needed relief from the physically demanding role.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Godzilla's name was also a source of consternation for the filmmakers. Because the monster had no name, the first draft of the film was not called "Gojira" but rather titled "G", also known as "Kaihatsu keikaku G" (""Development Plan G""), the "G" of the title stood for "Giant", however. Nakajima confirmed that Toho held a contest to name the monster. The monster was eventually named "Gojira". One explanation that is chalked up to legend is that a hulking Toho Studios employee's physical attributes led him to be nicknamed "Gojira". In a 1998 BBC documentary on Godzilla, Kimi Honda, the widow of the director, dismissed the employee-name story as a tall tale, believing that Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya gave "considerable thought" to the name of the monster, stating, "the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories, but I don't believe that one". In 2003, a Japanese television special claimed to have identified the anonymous hulking Toho employee as Shiro Amikura, a Toho contract actor from the 1950s.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The film's special effects were directed by Eiji Tsuburaya. In order for the effects footage to sync with the live-action footage, Honda and Tsuburaya would develop plans early during development and briefly meet prior to the day's shoot. Kajita would shuttle Tsuburaya to Honda's set to observe how a scene was being shot and where the actors were being positioned. Kajita also ushered Honda to the effects stage to observe how Tsuburaya was shooting certain effects. While Honda edited the live-action footage, he left blank leaders for Tsuburaya to insert the effects footage. At times, Honda had to cut out certain effects footage. Tsuburaya disapproved of these decisions due to Honda's cuts not matching the effects; however, Honda had final say in these matters.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Tsuburaya originally wanted to use stop motion for the film's special effects but realized it would have taken seven years to complete based on the then-current staff and infrastructure at Toho. Settling on suitmation and miniature effects, Tsuburaya and his crew scouted the locations Godzilla was to destroy and were nearly arrested after a security guard overheard their plans for destruction but were released after showing police their Toho business cards. Kintaro Makino, the chief of miniature construction, was given blueprints by Akira Watanabe for the miniatures and assigned 30 to 40 workers from the carpentry department to build them, which took a month to build the scaled down version of Ginza. A majority of the miniatures were built at 1:25 scale but the Diet building was scaled down to a 1:33 scale to look smaller than Godzilla. While it proved to be too expensive to use stop-motion extensively throughout the picture, the final film did include a stop-motion scene of Godzilla's tail destroying the Nichigeki Theater building.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The buildings' framework were made of thin wooden boards reinforced with a mixture of plaster and white chalk. Explosives were installed inside miniatures that were to be destroyed by Godzilla's atomic breath while some were sprayed with gasoline to make them burn more easily; others included small cracks so they could crumble easily. Optical animation techniques were used for Godzilla's glowing dorsal fins by having hundreds of cells drawn frame-by-frame. Haruo Nakajima perspired inside the suit so much that the Yagi brothers had to dry out the cotton lining every morning and sometimes re-line the interior of the suit and repair damages.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The typhoon waves were created by stagehands who overturned barrels of water into a water tank where the miniature Odo Island shoreline was built. Multiple composition shots were used for the Odo Island scenes. Most of the Odo Island scenes were filmed near rice fields. Toho hired en masse part-time employees to work on the film's optical effects. Half of the 400 hired staff were mostly part-timers with little to no experience. An early version of Godzilla's full reveal was filmed that featured Godzilla, via hand-operated puppet, devouring a cow. Sadamasa Arikawa thought the scene was too gruesome and convinced Tsuburaya to re-film it. Optical effects were utilized for Godzilla's footprints on the beach by painting them onto glass and inserting it onto an area of the live-action footage. Special effects photography lasted for 71 days.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: On the first day of filming, Honda addressed a crew of 30 to read the script and leave the project if they did not feel convinced, wanting only to work with those who had confidence in him and the film. Most of the film was shot in the Toho lot. Honda's team also filmed on location in the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture to film the Odo Island scenes, which used 50 Toho extras and Honda's team establishing their base in the town of Toba. Local villagers were also used as extras for the Odo Island scenes. The dance ritual scene was filmed on location in Mie Prefecture, with local villagers performing as the dancers. The cast and crew commuted every morning by boat to Toba, Mie, working under harsh weather temperatures. Honda worked shirtless and as a result, suffered blistering sunburn on his back that left permanent scars.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Toho had negotiated with the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) to film scenes requiring the military and filmed target practices and drills for the film; Honda's team followed a convoy of JSDF vehicles for the convoy dispatch scene. Two thousand girls were used from an all-girls high school for the prayer for peace scene. The filmmakers had little cooperation from the JSDF and had to rely on World War II stock footage, provided by the Japanese military, for certain scenes. The stock footage was sourced from 16mm prints. Honda's team spent 51 days shooting the film.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The film's score was composed by Akira Ifukube. After meeting with Tanaka, Tsuburaya, and Honda, Ifukube enthusiastically accepted the job. After learning that the main character was a monster, Ifukube said, "I couldn't sit still when I heard that in this movie the main character was a reptile that would be rampaging through the city." Ifukube was not shown the final film and only had a week to compose his music. Within that time, he was only shown a model of Godzilla and the screenplay. Tsuburaya briefly showed Ifukube some footage, albeit with the effects missing and Tsuburaya attempting to describe how the scene would unfold. Ifukube recalled, "I was very confused. So I tried to make music that would remind you of something enormous." Ifukube used low-pitch brass and string instruments.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: It was Honda's idea to make Godzilla roar, despite the fact that reptiles do not have vocal cords. Shimonaga and Minawa were originally tasked with creating the roar, but Ifukube became involved after taking interest in creating sound effects. Ifukube and Honda discussed what type of sounds were going to be used in certain scenes and other details concerning sounds. Minawa went to the zoo and recorded various animal roars and played them back at certain speeds. However, these sounds proved unsatisfactory and went unused. Ifukube borrowed a contrabass from the Japan Art University's music department and created Godzilla's roar by loosening the strings and rubbing them with a leather glove. The sound was recorded and played at a reduced speed, which achieved the effect of the roar used in the film. This technique would be adopted by Toho as a standard method in creating monster roars in the following years.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: There are conflicting reports as to how Godzilla's footsteps were created. One claim states that the roar was created with a knotted rope hitting a kettle drum that was recorded and processed through an echo box. However, Ifukube told "Cult Movies" that the footsteps were created using a primitive amplifier that made a loud clap when struck. Some Japanese texts claim that the footsteps were sourced from an explosion with the ending clipped off and processed through an electronic reverb unit. The optical recording equipment contained four audio tracks: one for principal dialogue, one for background chatter, ambient noises, tanks, planes, and one for the roars and footsteps. An independent audio track was used to prevent bleeding over other audio.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The music and sound effects of Godzilla's rampage were recorded live simultaneously. While Ifukube conducted the NHK Philharmonic orchestra, a foley artists watched Godzilla's rampage projected on a screen and used tin, concrete debris, wood, and other equipment to simulate sounds that would sync with the footage. A new take would be needed if the foley artist had missed a cue. Many of Ifukube's themes and motifs associated with Godzilla were introduced in the film, such as the March, the Horror theme, and the Requiem. The "Self Defense Force March" had become synonymous with Godzilla that Ifukube later referred to it as "Godzilla's theme." Ifukube considers his music for the film his finest film score.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: During production, Mori devised promotional strategies to generate public interest. Amongst these strategies was a radio play titled


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: . 11 episodes were produced based on the screenplay, and aired on Saturdays on the NHK radio network from July 17, 1954, to September 25, 1954. In an attempt to build mystery, Mori banned reporters from the set, kept the special effects techniques and other behind the scenes crafts secret. Nakajima's suit performance as Godzilla would not be revealed until the 1960s. However, Godzilla's image was widely publicized. Godzilla's image was added to the company stationary, cut-out pictures and posters were displayed in theaters and stores, large advertisement balloons were flown to major Japanese cities, and a Godzilla doll was mounted onto a truck and driven around Tokyo. The film's theatrical trailer debuted in theaters on October 20, 1954.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: "Godzilla" was first released in Nagoya on October 27, 1954, and released nationwide on November 3, 1954. At the time of the film's release, it set a new opening day record for any Toho film, selling 33,000 tickets at Toho's cinemas in Tokyo and selling out at Nichigeki Theater. As a result, Toho's CEO personally called Honda to congratulate him. Honda's wife, Kimi, noted "that sort of thing didn't usually happen."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: From 1955 into the 1960s, "Godzilla" played in theaters catering to Japanese-Americans in predominantly Japanese neighborhoods in the United States. An English subtitled version was shown at film festivals in New York, Chicago, and other cities in 1982. An 84-minute cut of the Japanese version was theatrically released in West Germany on April 10, 1956, as "Godzilla". This version removes the Japanese Parliament argument, acknowledgement of Godzilla as a "child of the H-bomb", references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and an altered translation of the mother holding her children. The film was re-released theatrically in Japan on November 21, 1982, to commemorate Toho's 50th anniversary. Since its release, the 1954 film remained unavailable officially in the United States until 2004.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: To coincide with "Godzilla"s 50th anniversary, art-house distributor Rialto Pictures gave the film a traveling tour-style limited release, coast-to-coast, across the United States, on May 7, 2004. It ran uncut with English subtitles until December 19, 2004. The film never played on more than six screens at any given point during its limited release. The film played in roughly sixty theaters and cities across the United States during its -month release. On April 18, 2014, Rialto re-released the film in the United States, coast-to-coast, using another limited-style traveling tour. This coincided with not only Godzilla's 60th anniversary, but also celebrated the American "Godzilla" film which was released that same year. To avoid confusion with the Hollywood feature, the Rialto release was subtitled "The Japanese Original". It was screened in 66 theaters in 64 cities from April 18 to October 31, 2014.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: For its 67th anniversary, a 4K remaster of the film, along with other "Godzilla" films, was screened in Alamo Drafthouse Cinema locations on November 3, 2021.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Following the film's success in Japan, Toho sold the American rights to Joseph E. Levine for $25,000. A heavily altered version of the film was released in the United States and worldwide as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" on April 27, 1956. This version trimmed the original down to 80 minutes and featured new footage with Canadian actor Raymond Burr interacting with body doubles mixed with Honda's footage to make it seem like he was part of the original Japanese production. Many of the film's political themes were trimmed or removed completely. It was this version of the original "Godzilla" film that introduced audiences worldwide to the character and franchise and the only version that critics and scholars had access to until 2004 when the 1954 film was released in select theaters in North America. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" grossed $2 million during its theatrical run, more than what the 1954 film grossed in Japan.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Honda was unaware that "Godzilla" had been re-edited until Toho released "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" in Japan in May 1957 as "Monster King Godzilla". Toho converted the entire film from its original scope to a widescreen 2.35:1 scope, which resulted in an awkward crop for the entire film. Japanese subtitles were given to the Japanese actors since their original dialogue differed greatly from the original script and were dubbed in English. Since the release of the film, Toho had adopted the moniker "King of the Monsters" for Godzilla, which has since appeared in official marketing, advertisement, and promotional materials.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 1985, the Japanese version of "Godzilla" was released on LaserDisc in Japan by Toho, followed by a VHS release in 1988. Toho released the film on DVD in 2001, and on Blu-ray in 2009.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 2008, Toho remastered the film in High-definition and premiered it on the Japanese Movie Speciality Channel, along with the rest of the Godzilla films also remastered in HD. In March 2021, Toho premiered a 4K remaster of the film on the Nippon Classic Movie Channel, along with seven other Godzilla films also remastered in 4K. The film was downscaled to 2K for broadcast.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The American version was released on DVD by Simitar Entertainment in 1998 and Classic Media in 2002. In 2005, BFI released the original Japanese version in the UK theatrically, and later in the same year on DVD. The DVD includes the original mono track and several extra features, such as documentaries and commentary tracks by Film historians Steve Ryfle, Ed Godziszewski, and Keith Aiken. The DVD also includes a documentary about the "Daigo Fukuryū Maru", a Japanese fishing boat that was caught in an American nuclear blast and partially inspired the creation of the film.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 2006, Classic Media released the Japanese and American version on a two-disc DVD in the United States and Canada. This release features trailers and audio commentaries for both films by Ryfle and Godziszewski (separate from the BFI commentaries), two 13-minute documentaries titled "Godzilla Story Development" and "Making of the Godzilla Suit", and a 12-page essay booklet by Ryfle. This release also restores the original ending credits of the American film which, until recently, were thought to have been lost.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 2009, Classic Media released "Godzilla" on Blu-ray. This release includes the same special features from the 2006 Classic Media DVD release, but does not feature the American version. In 2012, the Criterion Collection released a "new high-definition digital restoration" of "Godzilla" on Blu-ray and DVD. This release includes a remaster of the American version, "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!", as well as other special features such as interviews with Akira Ikufube, Japanese film critic Tadao Sato, actor Akira Takarada, Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima, effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai and audio commentaries on both films by film historian David Kalat.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 2014, Classic Media reissued "Godzilla" and "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" on DVD, to commemorate the release of Legendary's "Godzilla" film. This release retained the same specs and features as the 2006 DVD release. In 2017, Janus Films and the Criterion Collection acquired the film, as well as other Godzilla titles, to stream on Starz and FilmStruck. In 2019, the film and the American version were included in the "Godzilla: The Showa Era Films" Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise's Shōwa era. In May 2020, the film became available on HBO Max upon its launch.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: During its initial Japanese theatrical run, the film set an opening record with the highest first-day ticket sales in Tokyo, before it went on to sell tickets; it was the eighth best-attended film in Japan that year. The film earned (just under $510,000) in distributor rentals during its initial run, with total lifetime gross receipts of . Adjusted for inflation, the film's original Japanese box office run in 1954 was equivalent to or in 1998.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: During its 2004 limited theatrical release in North America, the film grossed $38,030 on its opening weekend and grossed $412,520 by the end of its limited run. For the 2014 limited re-release in North America, it grossed $10,903 after playing in one theater in New York and grossed $150,191 at the end of its run. In the United Kingdom, the film sold 3,643 tickets from limited releases during 20052006 and 20162017.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Prior to the release of the film, skeptics predicted the film would flop. At the time of the film's release, Japanese reviews were mixed. Japanese critics accused the film of exploiting the widespread devastation that the country had suffered in World War II, as well as the "Daigo Fukuryū Maru" incident that occurred a few months before filming began. Ishiro Honda lamented years later in the "Tokyo Journal", "They called it grotesque junk, and said it looked like something you'd spit up. I felt sorry for my crew because they had worked so hard!"


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Others said that depicting a fire breathing organism was strange. Honda also believed Japanese critics began to change their minds after the good reviews the film received in the United States. He stated "The first film critics to appreciate "Godzilla" were those in the U.S. When "Godzilla" was released there as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" in 1956, the critics said such things as, 'For the start, this film frankly depicts the horrors of the Atomic Bomb', and by these evaluations, the assessment began to impact critics in Japan and has changed their opinions over the years."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: As time went on, the film gained more respect in its home country. In 1984, "Kinema Junpo" magazine listed "Godzilla" as one of the top 20 Japanese films of all time, while a survey of 370 Japanese film critics published in "Nihon Eiga Besuto 150" ("Best 150 Japanese Films"), had "Godzilla" ranked as the 27th best Japanese film ever made. The film was nominated for two Japanese Movie Association awards. One for best special effects and the other for best film. It won best special effects but lost best picture to Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai".


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: "Godzilla" received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93% based on 74 reviews, with an average score of 7.60/10. The site's consensus states, "More than straight monster-movie fare, "Gojira" offers potent, sobering postwar commentary". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78/100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Owen Gleiberman from "Entertainment Weekly" noted the film is more "serious" than the 1956 American cut yet "its tone just veers closer to that of solemn American B-horror cheese like "Them!" The real difference is that the film's famous metaphor for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki looks more nuttily masochistic than ever." Luke Y. Thompson from "Dallas Observer" defended the film's effects as products of their time and felt that viewers would be "surprised by what they see", stating, "This ain't your standard goofy monster rampage." Peter Bradshaw from "The Guardian" awarded the film four stars out of five, praising the storytelling as "muscular" and the nuclear themes as "passionate and fascinatingly ambiguous", stating, "the sheer fervency of this film takes it beyond the crash-bang entertainment of most blockbusters, ancient and modern." David Nusair from Reel Film Reviews awarded the film one and a half stars out of four, saying the film turns into a "terminally erratic narrative that's more dull than engrossing." Nusair criticized Honda for his "inability to offer up even a single compelling human character" and found the film's ending as "anticlimactic and pointless", concluding, "the film is entirely lacking in elements designed to capture and hold the viewer's ongoing attention."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Roger Ebert from the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film one and a half stars out of four, stating, "regaled for 50 years by the stupendous idiocy of the American version of "Godzilla", audiences can now see the original Japanese version, which is equally idiotic, but, properly decoded, was the "Fahrenheit 9/11" of its time." Ebert criticized the effects as looking "crude", feeling the effects of the 1933 film "King Kong" were "more convincing" and concluded that "This is a bad movie, but it has earned its place in history."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Keith Uhlich from "Time Out" awarded the film four stars out of five, calling the film "Pop Art as purge", and praising the film's characters, themes, and Godzilla as a "potent and provocative metaphor, a lumbering embodiment of atomic-age anxieties birthed from mankind's own desire to destroy." Desson Thomson from the "Washington Post" called the film's effects "pretty extraordinary" and "amazingly credible" for their time. Thomson felt some of the acting was "ham-handed" but said "there's a surprisingly powerful thrust to this film." Mick LaSalle from the "San Francisco Chronicle" called the film a "classic", stating, "Such moments go beyond spectacle. "Godzilla" is a collective metaphor and a collective nightmare, a message film that says more than its message, that captures, with a horrified poetry, the terrors that stomped through the minds of people 50 years ago."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: Since its release, "Godzilla" has been regarded as one of the best giant monster films ever made: critic Allen Perkins called the film "not just a classic monster movie, but also an important cinematic achievement." In 2010, the film was ranked No. 31 in "Empire" magazine's "100 Best Films Of World Cinema". In 2013, "Rolling Stone" ranked the film No. 1 on their "Best Monster Movies of All Time" list. In 2015, "Variety" listed the film amongst their "10 Best Monster Movies of All-Time" list. In 2019, "Time Out Film" ranked the film No. 9 on their "50 best monster movies" list.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 1954, Eiji Tsuburaya won the "Japanese Film Technique" award for the film's special effects. In 2007, Classic Media's DVD release of the film won "Best DVD of 2006" by the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards and Best DVD Classic Film Release by the Saturn Awards.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: The film spawned a multimedia franchise consisting of 36 films in total, video games, books, comics, toys and other media. The "Godzilla" franchise has been recognized by "Guinness World Records" as being the longest-running film franchise in history. Since his debut, Godzilla became an international pop culture icon, inspiring countless rip-offs, imitations, parodies and tributes. The 1954 film and its special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya have been largely credited for establishing the template for "tokusatsu", a technique of practical special effects filmmaking that would become essential in Japan's film industry after the release of "Godzilla". Critic and scholar Ryusuke Hikawa said: "Disney created the template for American animation. In the same way, (special-effects studio) Tsuburaya created the template for the Japanese movie business. It was their use of cheap but craftsman-like approaches to movie-making that made tokusatsu unique." Steven Spielberg cited "Godzilla" as an inspiration for "Jurassic Park" (1993), specifically "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" (1956), which he grew up watching.


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 1998, TriStar Pictures released a reimagining, titled "Godzilla", directed by Roland Emmerich. Emmerich wanted his "Godzilla" to have nothing to do with Toho's "Godzilla" but chose to retain key elements from the 1954 film, stating, "We took part of [the original movie's] basic storyline, in that the creature becomes created by radiation and it becomes a big challenge. But that's all we took."


title: Godzilla (1954 film)

text: In 2014, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures released a reboot, also titled "Godzilla", directed by Gareth Edwards. Edwards stated that his film was inspired by the 1954 film, and attempted to retain some of its themes, stating, "Godzilla is a metaphor for Hiroshima in the original movie. We tried to keep that, and there are a lot of themes from the '54 movie that we've kept."


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: Emma Modesta Coronel Aispuro (; born July 2, 1989) is an American former teenage beauty queen. She is known for being the wife of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, considered Mexico's most-wanted drug lord until he was imprisoned for life. In February 2021 she was arrested in the United States on charges of conspiracy to unlawfully import and distribute illegal drugs, money laundering, and transacting business with a significant foreign narcotics trafficker designated under the Kingpin Act. In November 2021 Coronel was sentenced to three years in prison.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: Emma Modesta Coronel was born July 2, 1989, near San Francisco, California, US, to Blanca Estela Aispuro Aispuro and Inés Coronel Barreras, a cattle rancher and deputy of Guzmán who was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin designation. She grew up in the remote Durango village of La Angostura.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: Coronel entered the 2007 Coffee and Guava Festival beauty pageant in Canelas, Durango, Mexico. Each contestant was required to host a party in honor of her candidacy; Coronel held hers on Three Kings Day. In this event, Coronel reportedly met Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who traveled to Canelas to meet her. Both of them reportedly agreed to marry that day.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: Coronel was arrested at Dulles International Airport on February 22, 2021. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's arrest warrant stated their probable cause included evidence of Coronel shuttling messages from Guzman to Sinaloa Cartel associates, assisting Guzman's escape from Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 "Altiplano" in 2015 through bribery and, following his recapture, helping coordinate another escape attempt aborted following Guzman's extradition. The affidavit cited a handwritten letter written and signed by Guzman, as well as the statements of two unnamed cooperating witnesses who had worked with Guzman.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: Sources who spoke to "Vice News" on the condition of anonymity claimed that Coronel voluntarily surrendered and was seeking a court settlement. A lawyer representing Guzman and Coronel, Jeffrey Lichtman, denied it. The Department of Justice declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the FBI. Coronel's lawyer Mariel Colón denounced her conditions in Alexandria City Jail, saying she spent 22 hours per day in a small cell with nothing to do but read.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: On June 10, 2021, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and Coronel Aispuro agreed to a plea deal, in which she waived indictment and pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a felony criminal information with three counts:


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: On November 30, 2021, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Coronel to three years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release. Judge Contreras did not sentence Coronel to the four years requested by prosecutors, noting that she was a teenager when she married Guzman and admitted her guilt upon capture. As of February 2022 she is serving her sentence in Federal Medical Center, Carswell and is set to be released on September 13, 2023.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: In the summer of 2011 Coronel traveled to Lancaster, California, to give birth to twin girls at Antelope Valley Hospital. Guzmán's name was left off the children's birth certificates because the U.S. Department of State was offering a bounty of five million dollars for his capture.


title: Emma Coronel Aispuro

text: In a 2016 Telemundo interview conducted by investigative reporter Anabel Hernández, Coronel argued that the life of her husband was in danger and begged for justice on his behalf. In 2019 she attended the New York trial of El Chapo with her children. She attended courtroom almost every day of the trial, in what the press described as solidarity with her husband. She was interviewed in the reality show "Cartel Crew" on VH1.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become licensed as a physician or surgeon and thus have full medical and surgical practicing rights in all 50 US states. , there were 168,701 osteopathic physicians and medical students in DO programs across the United States. Osteopathic medicine emerged historically from osteopathy, but has become a distinct profession.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: , more than 28% of all US medical students were DO students. The curricula at DO-granting medical schools are equivalent to those at MD-granting medical schools, which focus the first two years on the biomedical and clinical sciences, then two years on core clinical training in the clinical specialties.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: One notable difference between DO and MD training is that DOs spend an additional 300–500 hours to study a set of hands-on manipulation (OMT) of the human musculoskeletal system along with learning conventional Western medicine and surgery like their MD peers.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Upon completing osteopathic medical school, a DO graduate may enter an internship or residency training program, which may be followed by fellowship training. DO graduates attend the same graduate medical education programs as their MD counterparts.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Osteopathy, the older form of osteopathic medicine, began in the United States in 1874. The term "osteopathy" was coined by the physician and surgeon Andrew Taylor Still, who named his new discipline of medicine "osteopathy", reasoning that "the bone, "osteon", was the starting point from which [he] was to ascertain the cause of pathological conditions". He founded the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University of the Health Sciences) in Kirksville, Missouri, for the teaching of osteopathy on May 10, 1892. While the state of Missouri granted the right to award the MD degree, he remained dissatisfied with the limitations of conventional medicine and instead chose to retain the distinction of the DO degree. In 1898 the American Institute of Osteopathy started the "Journal of Osteopathy" (presently known as the "Journal of Osteopathic Medicine") and by that time four states recognized the profession.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: The osteopathic medical profession has evolved into two branches: non-physician manual medicine osteopaths, who were educated and trained outside the United States; and US-trained osteopathic physicians, who conduct a full scope of medical and surgical practice. The regulation of non-physician manual medicine osteopaths varies greatly between jurisdictions. In the United States, osteopathic physicians holding the DO degree have the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as physicians with a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. Osteopathic physicians and non-physician osteopaths are so distinct that in practice they function as separate professions.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: As originally conceived by Andrew Still, the letters "DO" stood for "Diplomate in Osteopathy" and the title conferred by the degree was "Doctor of Osteopathy". Subsequently, the degree also came to be entitled "Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine". Since the late 20th century, the AOA has preferred that this title be used exclusively. Its members resolved at a 1960 conference:


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: A minority of DOs continue to use the old terms, and the American Academy of Osteopathy retains the old usage in its name.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: In 2018, there were 114,425 osteopathic medical doctors in the United States and 145,343 total DOs and osteopathic medical students. The proportion of females in the profession has steadily increased since the 1980s. In 1985, about 10 percent of DO physicians were female, compared with 41 percent in 2018. Between 2008 and 2012, 49 percent of new DO graduates were females.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: During the 2011–12 academic year, the osteopathic medical student body consisted of: 69 percent white/non-Hispanic, 19 percent Asian or Pacific Islander, 3.5 percent Hispanic, 3 percent African-American, and 0.5 percent Native American or Alaskan. The remainder were listed as "other or not entered". The five-year change in osteopathic medical student enrollment by ethnicity has increased by 19 percent for white/non-Hispanic students, 36 percent for Asian-American students, 24 percent for Black/African American students, and 60 percent for Hispanic/Latino students.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Osteopathic medical school curricula are equivalent to those at schools granting the MD degree (Doctor of Medicine). Both US-granted MD and US-granted DO programs are listed in the World Directory of Medical Schools as medical schools. Once admitted to an osteopathic medical school, students study for four years to graduate. The schooling is divided into the pre-clinical and clinical years. The pre-clinical years, the first and second years, focus on the biomedical and clinical sciences. The clinical years, the third and fourth years, consist of core clinical training and sub-internships in the clinical specialties.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Osteopathic medical school accreditation standards require training in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, surgery, psychiatry, emergency medicine, radiology, preventive medicine, and public health. According to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, "the training, practice, credentialing, licensure, and reimbursement of osteopathic physicians is virtually indistinguishable from those of physicians with MD qualifications, with 4 years of osteopathic medical school followed by specialty and subspecialty training and board certification".


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: DO schools provide an additional 300–500 hours in the study of hands-on manual medicine and the body's musculoskeletal system, which is referred to as osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). Osteopathic physicians use OMM predominantly to treat musculoskeletal conditions.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Before entering osteopathic medical school, an applicant must complete a four-year undergraduate degree and take a national standardized exam called the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Some combined undergraduate/medical programs exist. Some authors note the differences in the average MCAT scores and grade point average of students who matriculate at DO schools compared to those who matriculate at MD schools within the United States. In 2021, the average MCAT and GPA for students entering US-based MD programs were 511.5 and 3.73, respectively, and 504.0 and 3.55 for DO matriculants. DO medical schools are more likely to accept non-traditional students, who are older and entering medicine as a second career, or coming from non-science majors.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: DO medical students are required to take the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensure Examination (COMLEX-USA), which is sponsored by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME). The COMLEX-USA is series of four osteopathic medical licensing examinations. The first three exams of the COMLEX-USA are taken during medical school and are prerequisites for residency programs. Level 2 consists of a multiple-choice portion and a patient evaluation exam (PE). COMLEX-Level 2 PE is available in Chicago, Illinois, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is graded as a Pass/Fail exam. Finally, COMLEX Level 3 is taken during the first year of residency.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: In addition to the COMLEX-USA, DO medical students may choose to sit for the MD licensure examinations, which are called the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). This is typically done under specific circumstances, such as when the student desires to enter a residency that may have a historic preference for the USMLE, or if a higher USMLE score would help elevate the student's application to be more competitive. USMLE pass rates for DO and MD students in 2012 are as follows: Step 1: 91% and 94%, Step 2 CK: 96% and 97%, and Step 2 CS: 87% and 97%, respectively (this number may be misleading as only 46 DO students compared to 17,118 MD students were evaluated for Step 2 CS) Step 3: 100% and 95% (this number may be misleading, as only 16 DO students compared to 19,056 MD students, were evaluated for Step 3).


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: To obtain a license to practice medicine in the United States, osteopathic medical students must pass the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX), the licensure exam administered by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners throughout their medical training. Students are given the option of also taking the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) to apply for certain residency programs that may want USMLE scores in addition to COMLEX scores. Those that have received or are in the process of earning an MD or DO degree are both eligible to sit for the USMLE. Because of their additional training, only DO candidates are eligible to sit for the COMLEX.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Upon completion of internship and residency requirements for their chosen medical specialty, holders of the DO may elect to be board certified by either a specialty board (through the American Medical Association's American Board of Medical Specialties) or an osteopathic specialty board (through the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists certifying boards) or both. In February 2014, the American Osteopathic Association and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education agreed to unify standard and osteopathic graduate medical education starting in 2020.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Depending on the state, medical licensure may be issued from a combined board (DO and MD) or a separate board of medical examiners. All of the 70 state medical boards are members of the Federation of State Medical Boards.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Retired MD and U.S. Air Force flight surgeon Harriet Hall stated that DOs trained in the U.S. are Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and are legally equivalent to MDs. "They must be distinguished from 'osteopaths', members of a less regulated or unregulated profession that is practiced in many countries. Osteopaths get inferior training that can't be compared to that of DOs."


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: Currently, there are no osteopathic medical programs located outside of the United States that would qualify an individual to practice as an osteopathic physician in the United States. Foreign osteopathic degrees are not recognized by any state in the US as being equivalent to American DO degrees.


title: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

text: The International Labor Organization (ILO), an agency of the United Nations, issued a letter affirming that U.S.-trained osteopathic physicians are fully licensed physicians who prescribe medication and perform surgery. The acknowledgment draws a clear separation between American DOs, who are medical doctors, and non-physician osteopaths trained outside of the United States. Within the international standards that classify jobs to promote international comparability across occupations, U.S.-trained DOs are now categorized with all other physicians as medical doctors. This event took place in June 2018 and started a relay of events and opened doors for DOs as more countries started to understand and give full recognition to US-trained medical doctors with the DO degree, e.g. the Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) approved a resolution in 2019 granting the AOA's request that AMCOA recognize U.S.-trained DOs as fully licensed physicians with practice rights equivalent to MDs, opening its 20 member countries, which include Botswana, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to DOs. (Note: Some of the member African countries of AMCOA had independently licensed DOs before; however, this recognition unifies those who did or did not). Furthermore, DOs may work internationally with any humanitarian organization such as the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders. The following is an international licensure summary for US-trained Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, as listed by the American Osteopathic Association, that shows countries where US DOs have previously applied for licensure (countries not listed are regions with no history of US DOs applying for licensure):


title: Helloween

text: Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weikath and drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg. By the time Hansen quit Helloween in 1989 to form Gamma Ray, the band had evolved into a five-piece, with Michael Kiske taking over as lead vocalist. Schwichtenberg and Kiske both parted ways with Helloween in 1993; Schwichtenberg died two years later as the result of suicide. Between then and 2016, there had been numerous line-up changes, leaving Grosskopf and Weikath as the only remaining original members. As a septet, their current lineup includes four-fifths of the "" and ""-era (1987–1988) lineup, featuring three additional members, vocalist Andi Deris (who had replaced Kiske in 1994), guitarist Sascha Gerstner and drummer Daniel Löble.


title: Helloween

text: Since its inception, Helloween has released 16 studio albums, three live albums, three EPs and 30 singles, was honored with 14 gold and six platinum awards and has sold more than ten million records worldwide. Helloween has been referred to as the "fathers of power metal", as well as one of the so-called "big four" of the genre's early German scene, along with Grave Digger, Rage and Running Wild, and as one of power metal "big four" overall, along with Blind Guardian, Sabaton and DragonForce.


title: Helloween

text: Helloween was formed 1984 in Hamburg, West Germany. The original line-up included Kai Hansen on vocals and rhythm guitar, Michael Weikath on lead guitar, Markus Grosskopf on bass and Ingo Schwichtenberg on drums. That year, the band signed with Noise Records and recorded two songs for a Noise compilation record called "Death Metal". The compilation featured the bands Hellhammer, Running Wild and Dark Avenger. The two tracks were "Oernst of Life" by Weikath and Hansen's "Metal Invaders," a faster version of which would appear on the band's first full-length album.


title: Helloween

text: Helloween recorded and released its first record in 1985, a self-titled EP containing five tracks. Also that year, the band released its first full-length album, "Walls of Jericho". During the following concert tour, Hansen had difficulties singing and playing the guitar at the same time. Hansen's last recording as the band's lead singer was in 1986 on a vinyl EP titled "Judas", which contained the song "Judas" and live versions of "Ride the Sky" and "Guardians" recorded at Gelsenkirchen. (The CD edition has the live introduction, but the songs have been replaced with studio versions and crowd noise spliced in.) Following these releases, Helloween began the search for a new vocalist.


title: Helloween

text: The band found an 18-year-old vocalist, Michael Kiske, from a local Hamburg band named Ill Prophecy. Kiske was initially uninterested in them, having heard the more thrashy "Walls of Jericho", but after Weikath insisted, he attended one of their sessions and heard some songs they had composed for his voice (songs which would later be featured in their next albums), and he changed his mind.


title: Helloween

text: With their new lead vocalist in tow, Helloween approached record labels Noise International and RCA and proposed the release of a double-LP to introduce the line-up. This proposition was turned down.


title: Helloween

text: Instead, they recorded a single LP, "." The album was released by Noise Records on 23 May 1987, months after the band spent the winter of 1986 into 1987 hard at work inside Horus Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany. It consisted of songs mostly written by Hansen. Due to guitarist Michael Weikath's illness, he was recovering from a nervous breakdown, all the rhythm guitars on the album were played by Hansen. Weikath was only able to play some guitar solos and only wrote the ballad "A Tale That Wasn't Right". Weikath said in an interview: "I was pleased to still be in the band."


title: Helloween

text: The album received great reviews from the press and a great response from the fans. The positive reception took Helloween across the ocean, as they toured the US together with Grim Reaper and Armored Saint. Their American distributor at the time, RCA, got them to record a video for the epic ""Halloween"", but cut it to four minutes so that the video can be played on MTV. However, after the European tour together with Overkill, the first struggles within the band started taking shape.


title: Helloween

text: Exhausted from touring, Hansen asked the band to take a short break from live performances. However, as the band was just starting to gain momentum the time to take a break was just not right. The disputes ranged from arguing about their musical direction on the future releases to extensive touring and other, mostly insignificant topics. Hansen started contemplating leaving the band.


title: Helloween

text: In August 1988, Helloween released "." This time the record featured more Weikath-penned tracks. The idea behind this was that the first album should feature tracks written by Hansen due to their similarity to the style of their debut, while the second album would feature tracks composed by Weikath which were a lot more mainstream by comparison. The album capitalized on the success of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 and picks up where it left off. Success bloomed all over Europe, Asia and even the US. The album went gold in Germany, reached #108 in the US, hit the UK top 30 albums and single ""Dr Stein"" reached the lofty heights of #57.


title: Helloween

text: Despite the vast commercial success of the Keeper's part two, the rift between the band members kept growing. They spent more time arguing about the music rather than composing it. Hansen called for a meeting and once again asked the band if they could take a break from touring.


title: Helloween

text: The band got the chance to perform, in front of 100.000 people, as a part of the Monsters of Rock festival along with Iron Maiden, David Lee Roth, Kiss, Megadeth and Guns N' Roses at Donington Park on 20 August 1988.


title: Helloween

text: Around the same time, the tension between the band and their record label Noise led to an argument which would later lead to a lawsuit. The band was discontent with how much they were being paid taking into account great record and merchandise sales, as well as frequent touring. Helloween also supported Iron Maiden on their Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour, on some dates in Europe.


title: Helloween

text: In the fall of 1988, the band went on yet another European tour, now as headlining act, named "Pumpkins Fly Free Tour", which spawned their first ever live album, released the year after, titled ""Live in the U.K."" recorded during their show in Scotland. The same record was also released as ""Keepers Live"" in Japan and ""I Want Out Live"" in the US.


title: Helloween

text: MTV put the single "I Want Out" into heavy rotation. A video that was directed by Storm Thorgerson. In Hansen's "I Want Out" the guitarist very publicly laid out his disillusion with life as a member of Helloween at this time.


title: Helloween

text: In support of its "Headbangers Ball" show, MTV also presented the Headbangers Ball Tour in US and invited Helloween to be a part of it in 1989. However, before the start of that tour, in December 1988 Kai Hansen broke the news to the other members that he was leaving Helloween. Hansen's last show with the band was at The Hummingbird, Birmingham, UK on 8 November 1988.


title: Helloween

text: Grapow was originally discovered in a club in Hamburg, Germany playing with his band Rampage. Helloween guitarist Michael Weikath, who kept Grapow's name in mind in the event Hansen would potentially leave.


title: Helloween

text: Grapow, who was a car mechanic at the time, stated in 2017 that, if Weikath had not happened to ask him to join the band, he would have kept his job and given up on his dream of becoming a professional musician. Grapow said in 2020:


title: Helloween

text: The inaugural Headbangers Ball Tour started in April 1989 with Helloween joining San Francisco Bay Area thrash-metal band Exodus in support of headlining act Anthrax. The band was slotted in the prestigious second spot, right before Anthrax's set. On the heels of this exposure to U.S. audiences, the band achieved worldwide success. Kiske reflected at the time:


title: Helloween

text: At the height of their success Helloween decided to sign with then-major label EMI after being urged to do so by their management company Sanctuary, who also managed Iron Maiden. Their former label Noise Records sued them for breach of contract which effectively put the band on hold. Between June 1989 and April 1992 they did not play one show. All the momentum the band had built up came to a halt.


title: Helloween

text: Their first album with new guitarist Grapow "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" was released on EMI in the spring of 1991 in Europe and Japan. In the rest of the world as well as the band's home country Germany the album was delayed until April 1992 due to the ongoing legal battle between the band's current and former labels. By that time the music landscape had changed drastically. It also did not help that Helloween moved even further away from their speed metal roots and further embrace the hard rocking side of their sound. As a result, "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" failed commercially and tensions started to build amongst the band members.


title: Helloween

text: They played their first show on their "Quick Hello Tour" in Hamburg 30 April 1992 and continued with some more dates in Europe and the band also went to Japan in the autumn of 1992.


title: Helloween

text: The follow-up "Chameleon" was released on EMI in the summer of 1993. The very experimental album was a commercial failure. The band's diversion away from the sound that had made them famous alienated a large portion of their fanbase.


title: Helloween

text: The original drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg was then fired from the band due to his deteriorating mental state.


title: Helloween

text: Schwichtenberg could not be part of the band anymore until he recovered from drugs and alcohol abuse and took his medications against schizophrenia. After a long telephone call with Weikath, in which he explained why they had made that hard and painful decision, Schwichtenberg was asked to leave Helloween.


title: Helloween

text: He was replaced by session drummer Ritchie Abdel-Nabi on a temporary basis to finish the "Chameleon" Tour. Also many of the European dates were cancelled. Helloween played in half-filled venues and their decision to focus the setlist mostly on "Chameleon" and "Pink Bubbles" songs did not help either.


title: Helloween

text: Meanwhile, the conflicts within the rest of the band worsened and the decision was made to fire Kiske. His last performance with the band was at a Charity show at Rockfabrik Ludwigsburg 22 December 1993, until he returned to the stage with Helloween 24 years later.


title: Helloween

text: Kiske did not have any contact with Grosskopf and Weikath for many years. He would later release soloalbums with different musical directions. In 2008, Kiske released "Past in Different Ways"; an album featuring most of his old Helloween songs, albeit rearranged and re-recorded acoustically. Commenting on Kiske's dismissal, Grosskopf later said:


title: Helloween

text: 1993 would come to a close for Helloween with no singer, no drummer, and no record contract (EMI released the band from its agreement for the low sales numbers for "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" and "Chameleon").


title: Helloween

text: Helloween returned in 1994 with former Pink Cream 69 frontman Andi Deris as their new lead vocalist and Uli Kusch, formerly of Kai Hansen's Gamma Ray, on drums. The band already knew Deris from some recording sessions in Hamburg, though both Deris and new drummer Uli Kusch played on the band's next album Master Of The Rings, which was released on 8 July 1994, they were temporary members of the band back during the recording sessions, but they eventually became permanent members of the band on 1 September 1994. He had been approached by Weikath to join the band in 1991, but he had declined, despite being intrigued by the offer and having to deal with emerging conflicts between him and his band. In the years since, however, Kiske was fired from Helloween and the issues within Pink Cream 69 worsened. Faced with the inevitability of his firing, Deris accepted Weikath's offer during a night out with the band members. With this new lineup and a new record contract with Castle Communications, Helloween released its comeback album, "Master of the Rings".


title: Helloween

text: 8 March 1995, original drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in his native Hamburg. In the years since his departure from Helloween, Schwichtenberg had gotten worse from schizophrenia. 1996's "The Time of the Oath" was dedicated to his memory.


title: Helloween

text: Following another world tour, a double live album called "High Live" was released. In 1998, Helloween released "Better Than Raw", one of the band's heaviest albums since the full-length debut. The subsequent supporting tour was made up of stops in Europe, Japan and Brazil, but on 20 December 1998, the band visited New York and played a show at the venue Coney Island High in Manhattan, the first show for Helloween in the United States in nearly a decade.


title: Helloween

text: The band would follow "Better Than Raw" with a 1999 release titled "Metal Jukebox", a cover-album featuring Helloween's versions of songs from such bands as Scorpions, Jethro Tull, Faith No More, The Beatles, ABBA and Deep Purple.


title: Helloween

text: 2000 saw the release of "The Dark Ride", a more experimental and darker album than their previous releases. It came complete with downtuned guitars and a gruffer singing style from Deris. Immediately following the tour, Helloween parted ways with guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch. One version of events states that Weikath, Deris and Grosskopf felt that Kusch and Grapow, in particular, were spending more time on and paying more attention to their new side-project, Masterplan (Grapow's output on Helloween albums had dropped to barely one song per album by that point); since the others believed that Kusch and Grapow were not one hundred percent dedicated to Helloween, they were dismissed.


title: Helloween

text: They were replaced by guitarist Sascha Gerstner (ex-Freedom Call, Neumond) and drummer Mark Cross (ex-Metalium, Kingdom Come, At Vance, Firewind), culminating with the recording of another studio album, titled "Rabbit Don't Come Easy", in 2003. The band met Gerstner via a recommendation by producer Charlie Bauerfeind. According to Grosskopf, one day he was recording something with Freedom Call "and later on we called him up and he went to first meet Weiki because it was very important that Weiki finds a player that he can play with and also communicate and understand. [...] So we got him on the island where we recorded and let him hang out with us a little and then he decided 'Good, let's go'." Later in 2012, on an interview with Metal Shock Finland's Chief Editor, Mohsen Fayyazi, Grapow stated:


title: Helloween

text: Cross could not finish the album due to mononucleosis, completing only two tracks; the drum tracks were completed by Motörhead's Mikkey Dee. Stefan Schwarzmann, former drummer of Running Wild and Accept would shortly thereafter take over the drumming duties. Despite a somewhat tepid response to the album, Helloween nonetheless completed a successful world tour, highlighted by the return of classic songs such as "Starlight", "Murderer", and "Keeper of the Seven Keys" to the setlist. Additionally, the band toured the United States for the first time since 1989, playing to sold-out crowds at nearly every venue.


title: Helloween

text: 2005 saw yet another line-up change, following the "Rabbits on the Run" tour, as it became apparent that Helloween and Stefan Schwarzmann did not share the same musical vision. As further noted by the band, he had some trouble performing fast drum parts, so he was replaced by Daniel Löble, the former drummer of German metal band Rawhead Rexx. A change in record company also followed as they inked a deal with German label SPV. Any fears that what had now become a revolving door of band members would affect the quality of their new album were laid to rest as Helloween's new studio album, titled "Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy", was released on 28 October 2005 in Germany and 8 November in the US to commercial and critical acclaim. The album had a pre-release single, "Mrs. God", as well as a video for the track. The track "Light the Universe" was released as a single on 22 November, featuring Candice Night of Blackmore's Night on guest vocals. She also appears in the video clip for that track.


title: Helloween

text: In late 2006, Helloween filmed and recorded shows in São Paulo (Brazil), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Tokyo (Japan) for their live album "Keeper of the Seven Keys – The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006". The DVD also featured extra footage of the band, as well as interviews and a road movie. This was the second Helloween live album to feature Andi Deris as frontman and third overall. It enjoyed chart success in several countries: Germany: 9 (DVD) & 58 (CD), Sweden: 9 (DVD), France: 10 (DVD)


title: Helloween

text: Helloween has since completed their studio album "Gambling with the Devil", which was released on 23 October 2007. It received many positive reviews, with most fans praising the album as being one of the best Deris-era albums. Despite being one of Helloween's heaviest albums, it is noted for featuring more keyboards. "As Long as I Fall", the first single, was released in early September and only available via download (save for Japan, where it was released on CD). The video for the song is available at their official site.


title: Helloween

text: Helloween teamed up with Kai Hansen's current band Gamma Ray for their 2007–2008 "Hellish Rock" world tour, which started in early November 2007. Helloween were headlining and Gamma Ray were labeled as the "very special guest" with most shows also having fellow German "guest" Axxis. The tour went through Europe, Asia and South America, as well as a few dates in the US. The tour is notable for Kai Hansen stepping on stage with his former band fellows Weikath and Grosskopf to perform hits "I Want Out" and "Future World" in the last encore segment of Helloween.


title: Helloween

text: On 26 December 2009, Helloween released the "Unarmed – Best of 25th Anniversary" album in Japan. The album was released on 1 February 2010 in Europe. The album is a compilation of ten of the band's best known songs, re-recorded in different musical styles than the original recordings and by the current lineup. It features a seventeen-minute "Keepers Medley", recorded by a seventy-piece orchestra from Prague, mixing together "Halloween", "The Keeper of the Seven Keys" and "The King for a 1000 Years". There is a limited edition digipak, including a thirty-minute "making of"-DVD with interviews and studio footage. The band's website states that the album was released on 13 April 2010 in North America via Sony & THE END RECORDS labels. On 14 May 2010, it was announced on their site that they were working on a new studio album, which was the fastest and heaviest effort in years.


title: Helloween

text: Helloween released their thirteenth studio album, "7 Sinners", on 31 October in Europe and 3 November in the US. Before its physical release, the band made it available worldwide for streaming via their Myspace page. The name of the album alludes to the seven deadly sins. According to Andi Deris, the album goes straight to the point: "After an acoustic album, we needed definitely something that shows the people without any question that this is a metal album." The band toured to promote the new album with Stratovarius and Pink Cream 69 as their guests. On 5 April 2011, via the band's website, it was announced that "7 Sinners" was awarded 'Gold status' in the Czech Republic.


title: Helloween

text: In June 2012, Helloween entered the studio to begin recording their fourteenth album, "Straight Out of Hell", which was released on 18 January 2013. They then went on tour around the world with Gamma Ray again.


title: Helloween

text: In September, Helloween played at Rock in Rio 2013 with former member Kai Hansen as a special guest. In October 2014, the band announced a new album for a May 2015 release. It was produced by Charlie Bauerfeind at Mi Sueño Studio on Tenerife and marked their return to the Nuclear Blast label with which they released "The Dark Ride" and "Rabbit Don't Come Easy".


title: Helloween

text: On 26 February 2015, the band revealed the name and the cover artwork of the album, "My God-Given Right", released on 29 May 2015. The artwork was created by Martin Häusler.


title: Helloween

text: In June 2015, it was discovered that the band members were working on a book, released as "Hellbook". Grosskopf stated that it is "a kind of history book with lots of pictures".


title: Helloween

text: In November 2016, it was announced that former members Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske were re-joining the band for a world tour titled the Pumpkins United World Tour, that would start on 19 October 2017 in Monterrey, Mexico, and conclude the following year.


title: Helloween

text: Although Hansen had been occasionally appearing as a guest on Helloween shows for a few years, Kiske had been particularly reluctant in interviews to the idea of performing with Helloween again due to bad blood with Markus Grosskopf and especially Michael Weikath, dating from when he was fired from the band in 1993; this started to change in 2013, when he ran into Weikath at the Sweden Rock Festival. He stated in 2017: ""The first thing [Weikath] said was, 'What have I done that you can't forgive me?' That was the first line he said to me. And I realized that I had forgiven somehow a long time ago without noticing. That's how it all started"". It was Hansen, who had been his bandmate as a part of Unisonic since 2011, who ultimately convinced him in 2014. Other popular former members Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch were not asked to re-join, with Grosskopf stating ""it would be too many people"".


title: Helloween

text: This new line-up released an original song, "Pumpkins United", on 13 October 2017, as a free download (with a vinyl release on 8 December), on which Deris, Hansen and Kiske all share lead vocals. The Pumpkins United World Tour started in Monterrey, Mexico on 19 October 2017. The first show saw both Deris and Kiske performing songs from their respective Helloween albums and sing duets together, while Hansen performed lead vocals for a medley of songs from "Walls of Jericho". The show also included a tribute to the late original Helloween drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg.


title: Helloween

text: However, Kiske started suffering health issues related to his voice shortly before starting the tour, to the point where after the first two shows in Mexico, his involvement for the next dates was unsure. He was cleared to perform by doctors in time for the next show in San José, Costa Rica on 23 October, although his illness forced the band to temporally remove a few songs from their setlist, and to have Deris, Hansen and Gerstner support him more vocally. After accusations from fans of Kiske using lip sync on the more vocally demanding parts of some songs, Kai Hansen confirmed that Kiske had indeed partially used taped vocals, but only for the tour's opening show in Monterrey, and because the band feared they would have to cancel the show, as Kiske felt unsure he would be able to perform at all due to his illness. On 28–29 October 2017, the band recorded their concerts in São Paulo, Brazil for a future live album and DVD.


title: Helloween

text: About a potential studio album under the Pumpkins United line-up, Deris stated in March 2018: "We certainly have lots and lots of talks [about it]. This summer, if the chemistry goes on like this, then everything is possible. After recording that particular "Pumpkins United" song, we realized that it's easy working together. [...] Yeah, it was no problem at all, as if we would have worked together for decades already. So, I could see an upcoming album for the future. If the chemistry stays the way it is now, I definitely would say 99 percent yes, we're going for it." When they were interviewed together in June, Weikath stated: ""We don't really feel like starting with it because it's going to be a lot of work and it's going to take a lot of time and right now, we are kind of comfy with what we are doing, so to say. So, we are not lying. It's very easy to say; we are just too lazy to get started with that", while Hansen stated "There's a lot of ideas in the room for what we do next and so on. But, nothing is kind of decided. Nothing is ripe for the decision. We leave that open, kind of"."


title: Helloween

text: On 21 August 2018, the band announced that, at the request of their label Nuclear Blast, the Pumpkins United line-up would perdure after 2018, and that a live CD and DVD for the Pumpkins United World Tour would be released in early 2019, followed by a new studio album to be recorded later that year for a planned 2020 release, with Weikath, Hansen and Deris acting as a "songwriting trio"; this will be their first studio album to feature Hansen since "" in 1988 and the first with Kiske since "Chameleon" in 1993. The Pumpkins United World Tour concluded on 22 December 2018 in Hamburg.


title: Helloween

text: On 4 October 2019, Helloween performed at the 2019 edition of Rock in Rio and on the same day the live DVD/Blu-ray "United Alive" and the live album "United Alive in Madrid", both recorded during the Pumpkins United World Tour, were released. The first comprises recordings of the band's performances in Madrid WiZink Centre (2017), at Wacken Open Air (2018) and in São Paulo (2017) and the second is a recording of the full performance in Madrid, with songs recorded in shows in Prague, São Paulo, Wacken and Santiago acting as bonus tracks.


title: Helloween

text: On 26 November 2019, the band published a video in which they shared that they had begun recording their next album in Hamburg and that they were planning to resume touring in late 2020. On 1 June 2020, Helloween confirmed that they had postponed their fall European tour to the spring of 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band also announced that they had "decided to shift the release" of their new album to early next year; with six years between "My God-Given Right" and the new album, this marks the longest time between two Helloween studio albums, as the band had never previously spent more than three years without releasing a new studio album. On 25 March 2021, Helloween releases in Japan their new book, an encyclopedia called "Seven Keys United Memorial: Complete Collection of Helloween".


title: Helloween

text: In March 2021, it was announced that the band's first album with the Pumpkins United line-up would be titled "Helloween", and it was released on 18 June 2021. The album topped German charts and also reached number one in sales in other countries. Following the success of this album, the band launched a comic book and a line of collectible action figures inspired by the bands' cover artwork and lyrical lore.


title: Trivium (band)

text: Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent.


title: Trivium (band)

text: The band's debut album "Ember to Inferno" was their only album released through Lifeforce Records in 2003. In 2004, they were signed to Roadrunner Records where they have stayed ever since. The band has released ten studio albums and over twenty singles to date. Their tenth studio album, "In the Court of the Dragon", was released in 2021. The band has sold over one million albums worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy for the song "Betrayer" at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019 for Best Metal Performance.


title: Trivium (band)

text: The band formed in 1999. At his eighth-grade talent show, Matt Heafy performed a cover version of "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica. Singer Brad Lewter noticed Heafy and later asked him to try out for his band as lead guitarist. The pair went over to drummer Travis Smith's house where they played a rendition of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Impressed with Heafy's performance, they accepted him into the band known as "Trivium", which is a Latin three-way intersection they used to explain their music as combining metalcore, melodic death metal and thrash metal. Lewter played a number of local gigs with the band before departing about a year later. In mid-2001 Trivium parted ways with its bassist. Trivium asked Richie Brown from local black metal band Mindscar to fill in on bass duties until a full-time member could be brought in. A string of successful shows followed and then a search was conducted for a permanent bassist.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In late 2002, Trivium went into the recording studio to record its first high-quality demo disc. A copy of the demo was heard by German label Lifeforce which signed Trivium, and the band entered a studio to record its debut album, "Ember to Inferno". Lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu joined after the recording of the album. In 2004, Paolo Gregoletto joined as the band's bassist, replacing Brent Young, before a tour with Machine Head. The album "Ember to Inferno" managed to garner the interest of Roadrunner Records representatives, who later signed Trivium to the label. The band then began writing songs for their major label debut.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In 2004, Trivium recorded its second album, "Ascendancy", in Audiohammer Studios and Morrisound Recording in Florida. Produced by Heafy and Jason Suecof, the album was released in March 2005. The album debuted at No. 151 on the "Billboard" 200 and at No. 4 on the "Top Heatseekers" chart. Allmusic reviewer Johnny Loftus stated on "Ascendancy", Trivium are a "ridiculously tight quartet, unleashing thrilling dual guitar passages and pummeling kick drum gallops as surely as they do melodic breaks and vicious throat screams." and Rod Smith of "Decibel" magazine praised "Smith's impeccably articulated beats, bassist Paolo Gregoletto's contained thunder, and, especially, Heafy and guitarist Corey Beaulieu's liquid twin leads." The album was also recognized as the "Album of the Year" by "Kerrang!" magazine. Later in 2007 the band received their first Gold Record in the UK for more than 100,000 Sales.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In 2005, Trivium played the first Saturday set on the main stage at Download Festival in Castle Donington, England, credited by Matt Heafy as the gig that really launched Trivium on the world stage. Singles and music videos were released for "Like Light to the Flies", "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation", and "Dying in Your Arms". The videos for these songs gained rotation on Scuzz TV and MTV2's Headbangers Ball and "Pull Harder on The Strings of Your Martyr" has become one of the band's most well known songs and is the song that they usually close their sets with. In support of the album, the band opened for Killswitch Engage, Iced Earth, Fear Factory, and Machine Head, who were one of Heafy's largest influences. Trivium also played at Road Rage 2005 and Ozzfest.


title: Trivium (band)

text: "Ascendancy" was re-released in 2006 with four bonus tracks and a DVD containing all of the band's music videos and live footage.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In April 2006, after a headlining tour with Mendeed and God Forbid as openers, Trivium entered the studio with Suecof and Heafy producing again. The band played the Download Festival for a second time, again on the main stage, with Korn and Metallica. Trivium released "The Crusade" in October 2006. Debuting at number 25 on the "Billboard" 200, the album sold over 32,000 copies in its first week of sales. Heafy's vocals had changed from the metalcore scream of the previous albums to clean singing. This new singing style, along with the band's thrash metal music, were criticised as sounding too much like Metallica, who was a major influence on the band.


title: Trivium (band)

text: The band supported the album by touring with Iron Maiden and Metallica, appearing on the Black Crusade tour with Machine Head, Arch Enemy, DragonForce and Shadows Fall, as well as headlining a European tour with supporting acts Annihilator and Sanctity and acquiring an opening slot on the Family Values Tour with Korn. Trivium was named the best live band of 2006 at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.


title: Trivium (band)

text: Trivium started working on a new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz in October 2007. Heafy stated he wanted to bring back the screaming that was found on "Ascendancy", and the band said they chose not to work with Suecof again because they already recorded three albums with him and wanted to explore new ideas. Recording ended June 2008.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In an interview with the UK's "Metal Hammer" magazine in May 2008, Heafy said that their new album was to have "more thrash influences, more screaming." He told Revolver magazine, "For the first time, we can't look at our songs and say who the riffs sound like. We're really making our own stuff and our own kind of music and art form, and that's exciting." In September 2008, Trivium released their fourth full-length album, "Shogun". The album sold 24,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, debuting at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart as well as number 1 in the UK Rock Album Charts.


title: Trivium (band)

text: Trivium toured extensively throughout 2009 in support of "Shogun", with two headline legs of the US, a headline slot on the Mayhem Festival second stage, an Australia/Japan leg, as well as a conclusive UK run in March 2010. Throughout their headline runs, they were supported by Chimaira, Darkest Hour, Dirge Within, Whitechapel, Rise to Remain and Black Tide. They were also booked as a co-headliner for Australia's Soundwave Festival in February 2010.


title: Trivium (band)

text: Travis Smith unofficially left the band on the second leg of the "Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour" tour. On February 4, 2010, the band announced that Travis had indeed officially left the band and fill-in drummer, ex-drum tech, Nick Augusto, was replacing him. Augusto is a former member of Maruta and Metal Militia, in which he played with Gregoletto. The band has not yet stated the reason of his departure. While Trivium's relationship with Smith had deteriorated over the years, the band had no immediate plans to replace him when he announced in late October 2009 that he would be sitting out the 'Into the Mouth of Hell We March' tour to take care of "some personal business."


title: Trivium (band)

text: Trivium contributed to the "God of War III" soundtrack by recording the song, "Shattering the Skies Above". It is exclusively included on "", a digital EP that comes with the "Ultimate Edition" of the game and is available from the iTunes Store. The band has also recorded a cover of the song "Slave New World" by Sepultura. "Shattering the Skies Above" was also released exclusively to their fanclub (TriviumWorld) on February 12, 2010 and was released widely on February 15. The next day their Sepultura cover "Slave New World" was released as a free download for members of the UK via Metal Hammer UK. Both of aforementioned songs re-issued on their deluxe version of the album "In Waves".


title: Trivium (band)

text: In an interview with "Guitar World", it was stated that for their fifth studio album, Trivium would move forward by looking back. The group will forgo the complex epic compositions, tricked-out leads and seven-string guitars that characterized its past two albums. Trivium will take an approach similar to that of its second album "Ascendancy" (2005) by using uncluttered riffs, Drop C# tuning, and more straightforward solos. "When we did "Ascendancy", we were writing specifically for the songs, not to show how well we could play," says frontman and guitarist Matt Heafy. "That wasn't exactly the case with our next two records."


title: Trivium (band)

text: In the bonus content for the November 2011 issue of Guitar World, Matt Heafy talked about why the band decided to record this album in Drop D♭ as opposed to Drop D. "For the whole record of 'In Waves' we're in Drop D♭, so it's kind of like (Ascendency), just a half step lower, and everything that we do from all of the albums is half a step flat. It's mainly for the vocals. (It's) not that I can't sing higher, it's just easier with the amount of shows we do."


title: Trivium (band)

text: On June 6, "Metal Hammer" revealed that the band have decided to entitle their upcoming album "In Waves" and that it would be released on August 9, 2011. On June 19, Trivium debuted two new songs live in Birmingham entitled "Dusk Dismantled" and "Black". On the June 28 "Dusk Dismantled" was released to TriviumWorld users only; it was released to general public on the 29th. On July 13, the premiere of "Inception of the End" was released to the general public on the website Hot Topic.


title: Trivium (band)

text: "In Waves" was released in August 2011 worldwide, and received generally positive reviews. Kerrang! described the album as "draws from the band's entire repertoire and shapes what it finds into a defining and definitive set". A special edition was released featuring the tracks: "Ensnare the Sun", "A Grey So Dark", "Drowning in Slow Motion", "Slave New World" cover and the single from the God of War III soundtrack "Shattering the Skies Above".


title: Trivium (band)

text: Trivium participated in a co-headlining trek with Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames in both Europe and North America. European support came from Ghost, Rise to Remain and Insense. North American support came from Veil of Maya and Kyng. Additionally, Miss May I and The Ghost Inside joined Trivium during the In Waves 2011 European tour.


title: Trivium (band)

text: They also performed at the Metaltown Festival and Download Festival in June 2012. From July 13 to August 28, 2012, Trivium took part in Metal Hammer's "Trespass America Festival" headlined by Five Finger Death Punch with additional support from Battlecross, God Forbid, Pop Evil, Emmure and Killswitch Engage. On October 15, 2012, Trivium commenced a European headlining tour, supported by Caliban, As I Lay Dying and Upon A Burning Body.


title: Trivium (band)

text: The band toured for "In Waves" until the end of the year. Matt Heafy also stated that they will start recording a new album in February 2013 and they already have around 13 demos made.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On January 14, 2013, Matt Heafy announced via Twitter that the band had entered the studio. It was later revealed that they hired David Draiman of the heavy metal bands Device and Disturbed as a producer. In an interview, David Draiman revealed to Thrash Hits that the title of Trivium's forthcoming sixth album is "Vengeance Falls".


title: Trivium (band)

text: "Vengeance Falls" was produced at a studio in Austin, Texas and was mixed by Colin Richardson, who has previously worked with Fear Factory, Cannibal Corpse, Machine Head, Napalm Death, Slipknot and Bullet for My Valentine.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On July 23, 2013, Trivium announced a United States headlining tour, co-headlining with DevilDriver, with supporting acts After the Burial and Sylosis, which would reveal the first information of the new album. "Vengeance Falls" was released on October 15, 2013.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On July 31, 2013, the new song "Brave This Storm" was released for streaming and made available to download for free. On August 23, 2013, it was announced that Trivium would be playing at Australia's Soundwave Festival in late February and early March 2014. Trivium recorded a music video for the single "Strife" with director Ramon Boutviseth (All That Remains, For Today, Fear Factory) which was made available for free download to anyone who pre-ordered "Vengeance Falls".


title: Trivium (band)

text: On May 7, 2014, it was announced that drummer Nick Augusto had departed from the band. He was replaced by Mat Madiro, who had been the band's drum technician.


title: Trivium (band)

text: In fall of 2014, guitarist Corey Beaulieu announced that the band would be working on the follow-up of "Vengeance Falls" in 2015, and that he hoped that the album would be released in Fall of the same year.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On July 17, 2015, the band launched a website "snow.trivium.org" teasing the new album. They also changed their Facebook profile to the same picture as on the website, hinting at the release of the new album.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On July 24, the band posted a six-day countdown on their website. An unofficial picture surfaced online on July 29, suggesting the new album title to be "Silence in the Snow" and revealing three new featured songs: "Silence in the Snow", "Dead and Gone" and "Until the World Goes Cold". This picture also suggested a release date of October 2, 2015. This information was confirmed on July 30 when the band premiered the music video for the title track once the countdown ended. On July 31, 2015, the band revealed the track list and the album artwork, and "Silence in the Snow" was made available for pre-order. On August 7, the band premiered two new songs, "Silence in the Snow" and "Blind Leading the Blind" during their performance at Bloodstock Open Air.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On August 27, Trivium premiered the music video for their third single "Until the World Goes Cold", and the album was indeed released on October 2.


title: Trivium (band)

text: On December 2, Trivium re-released "Ember To Inferno", titling it "Ember To Inferno: Ab Initio". The deluxe version of the release contained two discs. The second disk included 13 bonus tracks which consisted of the early demos "Ruber" (the "Red Demo"), "Caeruleus" (the "Blue Demo") and "Flavus" (the "Yellow Demo").