Trivium "What The Dead Men Say" <REVIEW>

“…an album with significant highs, and the moments that don’t reach that high are still worth listening to…“

I did the taste test, and that burnt chard thing (whatever it is) tastes worse than that time your friend dared you to lick the floor behind your fridge (P.S. When was the last time you cleaned back there?) Trivium needs no introductions to many metalheads, They’ve been tearing up the metal scene since the early 2000s for both good and bad reasons (depending on who you ask). From the underground following built from Ember To Inferno, the monstrous major label debut of Ascendency, and the (arguably) sudden drop off from The Crusade (seriously, there’s a reason they don’t play most of those songs live anymore). But the mixed reception kept going for years to come. While Shogun saw massive critical acclaim, the band went through a shake-up when drummer and founding member Travis Smith left the band.

Trivium then cycled through “The Wheel of Drum Techs” for the next half a decade with albums that started strong with In Waves and continued similar with Vengeance Falls and then dropped off when vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy blew out his voice and couldn’t scream on the next record Silence In The Snow (a record that I will defend as that got way more shit than it deserved imo), but at that point in 2015/2016 the band needed to get back to basics, or at least evolve enough to their final form. Thus with the introduction of new drummer Alex Bent and a new direction, Trivium broke the metal world with The Sin And The Sentence, which was their way of reminding naysayers that they not only have a lot to say, they’re going to make you listen to it while you shit yourself in excitement.

Why did I give you a basic history of a band whom has a Wikipedia page that you can easily just go to for this information? Because it all leads to 2020 with the release of their 9th studio album What The Dead Men Say. Predominately because TSATS was a HUGE deal for Trivium fans and elitists that blew everyone away. It was an album that was considered the best Trivium album of the 2010s. How… the fuck… can one surpass that level of quality? Not to mention that this 2020 release is supposed be a culmination of everything they’ve done previously, I totally understand fans getting ready to hate this album. Personally, I’m a fan of Trivium, I’ve been a fan of them since 2012/2013 and have seen albums with great (varying) quality. So I personally wasn’t going to be scared because I was confident that the good folks of the “KiichiChaos and Hyperactive Squid Show” could produce something that can be as good, if not better than their 2017 triumph. Did they do that? Well, let’s not waste much more time, let’s get straight into it…

Trivium's official music video for "Catastrophist". What The Dead Men Say available now: https://trivium.lnk.to/WTDMS Subscribe: http://bit.ly/TriviumYT Site...

Well, before starting the album, I already have a few concerns. Literally half the album was released as singles. That’s not uncommon for some bands to do and this is probably a move that was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping fans reminded about the album… however… they released the FIRST half of the album as singles. Literally… the first half… They started with “Catastrophist”, followed it up with the title track, which had the second half of “IX” slapped in the beginning of the video. Then they released “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones” and then “Bleed Into Me”. We basically covered the first 5 tracks of the album before the release date of the album (April 24), but not one single came out of the second half. That… has me concerned. But that’s something I’m going to get into later. Let’s start the album proper.

“IX” starts us off with the very colourful clean riffs that introduce the mood for the album. This is going to be a bit more dark and foreboding than previous albums. The song kicks the distorted instruments nicely with the catchy riffs being played out between Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu while Paolo Gregoletto dominates that low-end with his thunderous bass tone. I think this is possibly the dirtiest bass tone we’ve heard from him… period. This is some dirty basslines and we haven’t even gotten into the actual tracks. And of course Alex Bent continuing to be one the most diverse drummers in the metal scene. From there, we get into the title track of the album, and we see what these guys are capable of in 2020. I think this song is a great example of combining different influences and styles to create a crushing, heavy and overall melodic album. This is the focal point to what sound we’re to expect going forward. The trend continues into “Catastrophist”. The chorus specifically on this song is what draws me in. On top of the tasty lead lick Corey is playing under the vocals, Matt’s voice is soaring in the chorus, especially when we get into the final chorus, it just gave me such chills listening to that. On top of that, we get to see the full extent of Alex’s drumming capabilities throughout the bridge and break sections of the song. I’m going to move a bit faster through these next couple songs because they were also released as singles and have been talked about to death. Simply put, getting into “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones”, this possibly the heaviest and most technical song on this album. Up until this point, I didn’t even know if Trivium have delved this deep into the tech-death style as much as on this song. Not a bad thing to have, and as someone who likes complicated music, I approve of this song. Next is “Bleed Into Me”, which isn’t as strong as the songs that came before, it’s more in the vain of songs like “Dying In Your Arms” from Ascendency and “The Heart From Your Hate” from The Sin and the Sentence. Not a bad song, I feel like this is the best representation of Paolo’s thundering, dirty bass tone that’s heard throughout the rest of the album (seriously, I’m in love with this bass), but that’s all that’s really special about this song, it’s a song that reminds detractors of Silence in the Snow what they didn’t like about that album. But… as someone who DID like Silence, I’ve got no real problems

Trivium's official audio stream for "The Defiant". What The Dead Men Say available now: https://trivium.lnk.to/WTDMS Subscribe: http://bit.ly/TriviumYT Site:...

But now we get into the deep cuts. I just want to remind you, I’ve been a bit sceptical about the second half up until this point, so I’m keeping myself prepared for something less than orgasmic. From “Bleed Into Me” we get into “The Defiant”, while not as strong as the previous songs, it is orgasmic for quite a few reasons. Not only does the riffing remind me so much of early Trivium, but it blends it so well with their modern sound and injects a bit of punk into it. Also, once again, Matt’s vocal performance is what sells this song, especially when he begins to soar in the chorus. You can hear the massive improvement he’s made to his vocal range and performance from the days of Ascendency and Ember, given the fact that the two timelines are blended together. “Sickness Unto You“ comes on and I’m already unsettled (in a good way of course), using black metal influenced chord progressions to set the tone for the rest of the song. Aside from the stuff that does work well, what really sells this song is it’s lyrical content. I don’t know why, but lyrics like “It won’t stop replaying in my head. the opened eyes and mouth of my beloved who now is dead” spoke to me personally. I have no idea why. Maybe it could be related to my mom who passed last year, or it could be that it’s a well written line that hits hard. Either way, for this song the lyrics are where it’s at. “Scattering the Ashes” starts up, and it’s a catchy hardcore song with some decent lyrics and a catchy chorus. Not as strong as previous songs, but it’s still okay. “Bending the Arc to Fear” is also okay. It brings back the bombastic tendencies we saw earlier with the technical riffage we saw on the title track. It’s not as strong as the previous songs, but it’s still a solid banger. And the closer “The Ones We Leave Behind”… is also okay… huh. Are you seeing a pattern here, yet?

So okay, what I’ve learned from this album is that there is a reason the second half of the album remained untouched during the “Trivium Singles Upchuck” of 2020. Call me paranoid, call me a conspiracy theorist, claim all you want that I’m writing this review with a tin foil hat on my head, but it’s when I staggered my way into the second half of the album where I began to understand why this was the case… because these songs (while not bad in any way), aren’t as strong as the first half of the album. Even the better songs of this latter half fall into this pit. “The Defiant” has a soaring chorus, but it doesn’t move and progress the same way “Catastrophist” does. “Sickness Unto You” has dark lyrics, but they don’t hit AS hard as “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones”. We see a similar trend with “Scattering the Ashes” and “Bending the Arc to Fear”, songs that are pretty good, but have the unfortunate problem of coming after the infectious composition of the title track. And I think the worst crime comes up with the closer. I say “the worst crime” because (again, while not being bad), it kinda just ends the album on… well… a note. Not a strong note, but a note. This is slightly disappointing because Trivium - of all bands in the metal scene, for any faults they may have - or may have had - these guys have ALWAYS known how to close out their albums. From the strong albums, to the less than strong albums, each album found a way to close in such a way that was fitting for the style each era of Trivium was going for. What The Dead Men Say… doesn’t have that. And that’s really the biggest downfall. There’s no significant lows that these guys hit here, but it doesn’t strike the same way as it really should (especially based on what came up first on the album). That second half is still worth checking out, but don’t feel too bad if you find yourself putting the first half on constant repeat.

When we get down to it, overall, What The Dead Men Say is an album with significant highs, and the moments that don’t reach that high are still worth listening to for what they still offer to the table. Trivium has been consistently inconsistent with their sound for 20+ years of their career. Constantly shifting sounds, but always finding a way to stick with that sound for each album that comes out. and while What The Dead Men Say isn’t as consistent as previous records, it’s still an album that’s a showcase of what makes Trivium great. Not as triumphant as their 2017 release, but for an album that promised to combine the sounds of every Trivium record to come before, we could’ve gotten so much worse.