Trivium - What the Dead Men Say (2020)Release ID: 19438
I waited two and half years for this album...and I finally got it last weekend!! Trivium album #9, What the Dead Men Say was released on April 24, 2020, much to the delight of metalheads (such as myself) looking forward to more awesome stuff from those American metal masters. The band that consists of guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent are ready to unleash another metal storm. Throughout the two months prior to the album release, the band released practically the entire first half of the album (minus the intro), as separate singles. A bit of a spoiler there, but it got me pumped up more than anything else in my life! And now the album's here, and it seems like they picked out elements of all their previous albums and blended them into a masterpiece. I'm glad that worked out super-well!
Aside from What the Dead Men Say having the band's usual thrashy metalcore sound made out of what they used in every previous release, there are some new other elements in here too, like the heavier songs sounding a bit like melodic black/death. Picking up where The Sin and the Sentence left off, most of the lyrics are based on dark modern aspects of everyday life, which is the kind of business they've dealt with in their previous album. Bring those aspects to the foreground, you're about to witness some amazing lyrics that continue Trivium's reign as one of the best metal bands in the current modern era...
"IX" is the two-minute intro named after the fact that this is the band's ninth album. It starts eerily yet soft and clean, sounding a bit like a continuation of the In Waves outro "Leaving This World Behind", then it speeds a little for a grand heavy buildup, before seguing into a song so f***ing perfect. The title track might take a few listens to fully grasp it, but the end result is this song becoming possibly my favorite Trivium song since the In Waves title track! The catchy chorus is a bit repetitive yet something I would never change. I say it has the fury of The Sin and the Sentence and the technicality of Shogun mixed into a hard-written song that's been missing from the band for many years until now. A total destroyer I profusely love! Next track "Catastrophist" has some risks that end up paying off greatly, such as a radio-friendly singalong chorus. Then at the halfway mark, the mosh pit opens with a face-tearing assault. The furious drumming is what keeps everything together and not fall out of place. "Amongst the Shadows and the Stones" is filled with crushing technical fury. The brutal chorus would grind you to dust and eat your remains like a motherf***er.
"Bleed Into Me" opens with audible bass riffing, plus the glorious vocals of Matt Heafy. It is an almost grunge-like power ballad with monstrous atmosphere that you can sing and scream along to with tears in a heavy rainstorm in the dark night. The post-chorus riff is an absolute headbanger. I absolute love the next track, "The Defiant". It is my second-favorite track in this album (behind the title track), recalling the older days of Ascendancy, blending with the modern songwriting and fantastic lyrics found in this album. Even the unclean vocals are beautiful. With all that and the perfect instrumentation overall, that would make older fans ecstatic and newer fans in love. "Sickness Unto You" has a darker mood and breaks through technical limits with an extreme storm of riffs and drums possessing your body. Who needs MTV?! You got this song that's far more fun than any of those lame pop music videos!
First heard in a trailer for the new Mortal Kombat game, "Scattering the Ashes" has quite some bittersweet melancholy. Not only does Gregoletto shine with his prominent bass, he also does beautiful background harmonies behind Matt Heafy's lead vocals. After that melodic piece comes the heavy roaring "Bending The Arc to Fear". This is where the Heafy's black metal influences that were somewhat present in the previous album come in through his rhythm riffing and the lightning-fast blast-beat drumming. This is probably one of the diversely crushing heavy offerings in this album, probably by the band, an influenced mix of melodeath/black/prog metal. The clean vocal and lead guitar interplay are a bit Rush-like, while the infectious closing riffing closes off the brutality. And finally, "The Ones We Leave Behind" is an epic closer that keeps the intensity while having incredible melody. Apparently, this song gives a powerful message that takes on a whole meaning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, thereby giving us a great song to fit in as we're restricted by this global maelstrom of sickness. Everything the band did in this album is nicely compiled into this furious blend of heavy and melodic, along with some of the hardest riffing in their career. Absolute metal glory!!
Overall, What the Dead Men Say has a lot for the band to build on since The Sin and the Sentence. Trivium continues going the right direction of mastering their metal craft with a massive blend of new and old influences. Any fan of heavy metal and Trivium will really love this album to bits. I suggest purchasing this album and sharing it with any of your metalhead friends. Trivium is still at the top of their metal game!
Favorites: "What the Dead Men Say", "Catastrophist", "The Defiant", "Sickness Unto You", "The Ones We Leave Behind"
