There’s been a lot of talk about Nick Augusto joining Trivium, but not enough about him leaving Maruta. After tech-ing for Trivium and filling in on some dates, Augusto recently replaced Travis Smith on drums — not that I care. I do care about Maruta, though, because they’re a bitchin’ grindcore band. Their MySpace currently lists Augusto’s replacement as “RoboGrinder 3000.” That’s gotta hurt.
It’ll be tough to replace Augusto. You can see him in the above Maruta video — my favorite metal video of last year. Its total budget looks to be about a six-pack of beer. Yet it has me riveted for its two minutes and 16 seconds. It has some of my favorite metal video clichés: the guitar neck cam, the ground-level camera barreling through a wasteland, the (simulated) circular dolly pan around the band. More importantly, it reeks of attitude. It’s dirty and ragged — I love it when the frontman slips backward because he’s going for it so hard — yet some sick chops are at work. One can’t blame Augusto for seeking a better paycheck. I wonder how he’ll fare in Trivium’s glitzy pop metal world, far away from the grind.
Maruta's riffs are so well crafted, and they added a bassist to give them even more low end crunch. All they need is a session drummer for starters. I'm sure a long list of volunteers will show up come tour time.
Their new album is close to the top of my "can't fucking wait" list.
Shit, this fuckin' rules. Huge props on the bass drum graphics also.
trivium still exists? it seems like maruta has nowhere to go but up and trivium is already tailspinning in relevance. a bizarre career move.
i don't think it's all that strange a career move. Maruta is not going to make ANY money.
Trivium, on the other hand, if he becomes a full on "member" and can crap out a few albums with them, will reap; some actual record sale money, A LOT of touring money, and the possibility of lisencing money.
I think it's a great career move, but a pretty awful artist move.
@these
oh i get that. but i was including the wtf/you can't be serious artistic aspect as well.