Metal Anarchy

Trivium will be releasing a new album, titled “Crown In The Grave,” on November 20. A music video for the effort’s title track can be found below:

“Crown In The Grave” Track Listing:

01. “Jorōgumo”
02. “Crown In The Grave”
03. “Dead Inside Of Me”
04. “The Terror”
05. “The Haunting Never Ends”
06. “Lie Of It All”
07. “Blackout The Dawn”
08. “Paradise Of Sinners”
09. “Death Throes”
10. “The Agony”
11. “Devour Your Dreams”
12. “Serpent In The Flame”

Bassist Paolo Gregoletto commented:

“‘Crown In The Grave’ is our eleventh record, and when you get this far into a career, it’s easy to rest on what you’ve already done — or to reinvent yourself just for the sake of it. With this record, we wanted to find the space between those two things: Take everything we’ve learned and everything that makes Trivium what it is, but present it in ways we hadn’t before.

We also wanted the record to exist within its own world. That began with the title track, inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Throne Of Blood’, and led us deeper into Japanese horror and cinema from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. That influence grew into this darker, ghostly atmosphere that became a set of guardrails for the music, lyrics, artwork, and overall identity of the record.

We built our studio so we could give ourselves the time and space to figure out exactly what an eleventh Trivium record should be, and ‘Crown In The Grave’ is the answer we arrived at. It honors where we’ve been without living in the past, and pushes into new territory without abandoning what makes us Trivium. I think when you hear it, it’ll somehow feel both new and like a return.”

Vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy went on to say that therapy and medication improved his mindset:

“Facing yourself is the final quest. We had to do it as a band, and I had to do it in my personal life. I freed my mind from the constraints of being worried. I made a decision to just sing.

I cleared the plate. I stopped trying to be safe and perfect at every show. Instead, I was actually enjoying the experience and living. If I messed up, it was okay because I’m human. With all of the changes Trivium went through, it’s like a brand new band.”

He also discussed drummer Alex Rüdinger:

“It happened when it was meant to. Rüdi didn’t just kill it on the drums; his contributions as a writer made a huge difference.”

Guitarist Corey Beaulieu added:

“We took all of the elements of Trivium, honed in on them, and focused on writing songs with big riffs and big hooks. We made the record we’d been dying to make. The late great Shaun Glass was a big Trivium fan. He’d always say, ‘You guys don’t cook the same meal.’ Even though we use the same ingredients, we always make a new dish.”

Gregoletto continued:

“Any band who has been around this long starts to ask: ‘Where do we go from here?.’ We decided to challenge ourselves to top everything we’ve done. We referenced a lot of ’90s albums. If you look at ‘The Black Album’ by Metallica, ‘Countdown To Extinction’ by Megadeth or ‘Superunknown’ by Soundgarden, the choruses are so important, and the songs are relatable. That’s what we strived for.”

He concluded by further explaining the influence of Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne Of Blood”:

“Kurosawa took Macbeth and set it in a feudal Japan. There’s minimal dialogue, yet the storyline is powerful. There are these haunting elements of being tempted by fate and this man’s downfall.”