Trivium: New Song and New Album, “Silence in the Snow”

My interest in Trivium has faded since 2008’s Shogun. I know, I know: us metal journalists/elitists aren’t supposed to admit we like Trivium. But we’ve never really given a crap about that stuff here at MetalSucks (see also: our constant jocking of plenty of other uncool bands). Ascendancy was a damn fine album, The Crusade was enjoyable (even in its full-on Metallica worshipping glory), and, IMO, Shogun was Trivium’s crowning achievement, a fantastic album that realized the pinnacle of all the hallmarks of the Trivium sound coupled with great songwriting. Their work since then hasn’t been bad by any means, but it hasn’t really stood out, either; it seems as if Trivium sacrificed a piece of their identity in favor of going after a more mainstream-metal-friendly sound. Or perhaps my own taste have just evolved since then.

So: “Silence in the Snow” is the title track from Trivium’s next album, which the band just announced will come out via Roadrunner on October 2nd. And it’s almost like singer/guitarist Matt Heafy has been reading my mind. Check out this quote:

For those of you wondering, this song was written for Shogun, and is basically almost the same as it was, so Shogun fans rejoice; didn’t like Shogun? You may not dig this. But know that since I was 12, I wanted to be a great singer I screamed, because I couldn’t sing. I am proud and excited to finally be able to do what I love the way I love.

Don’t love it? Our old stuff still exists. Love it? Awesome. I love both sides of you all regardless.

Screaming is easy. Singing is hard. I’ve always been a fan of what’s harder. If you love the old stuff — listen to the old stuff, it’s still there and we still play it live.

We always want to evolve and make what we want to make. You can’t say many other bands can say that. They do what they think people want or are told to; we do what we want every time. And we love our TRIVIUM supporters worldwide.

Side note: how crazy is it that Trivium have now been around long enough for their fans to be complaining that they don’t play any “old stuff” live? Seems like just yesterday they were the snotty teenagers that came out of nowhere and took the metal world by storm, angering seemingly everyone in the process.

Anyway, this song: it’s pretty good! I’m not necessarily hearing the Shogun comparison — it feels slower than most of that material, and with less bite, which perhaps it why it didn’t make the cut the first time — but of course we’ll take Heafy at his word. Verdict is still out on the new album for me, but I look forward to hearing some more jams from it soon.