Twenty-one years into a career built by defying expectations, Trivium delivers their hardest-hitting release to date on What The Dead Men Say.
Like Dante in Kevin Smith’s 1994 feature film Clerks, Trivium was not supposed to be here today. The Florida-born metal act rose through the hard rock ranks during a period when their peers seemed to disappear almost as fast as they hit it big. The world of heavy metal was (and in many ways still is) a fickle place where musicians are often forced to choose between creative fulfillment and appealing to the lowest common denominator. It takes a specific type of musician to endure the storms of criticism in pursuit of their artistic vision, and lucky for all of us, Trivium is that kind of band.
What The Dead Men Say, Trivium’s ninth studio album reflects on the past in hopes of saving the future. The band – Matt Heafy, Corey Beaulieu, Paolo Gregoletto, and Alex Bent – pull from everything they’ve done to deliver an album that serves as a thesis statement for Trivium’s career. It’s a relentlessly heavy, yet undeniably melodic exploration of existence that pulls from philosophy and mythology in equal measure to paint an elaborately-detailed portrait of what makes us human. Fans will hear hints of the youthful confidence that fueled Ember To Inferno and Ascendency, alongside the grit of In Waves and melancholy of Silence In The Snow. How the group makes this seemingly conflicting set of ideas gel is one of the record’s many wonders, but the real mastery lies in their ability to do so while also making an incredibly accessible record for those unfamiliar with their catalog.
Trivium recorded What The Dead Men Say in sixteen days, an accomplishment that speaks to their unified vision for the album. The ten-song tracklist touches on many topics, perhaps notable being a general unease about the world and our place in it. “Catastrophist,” the album’s lead single, makes this point clear as Heafy sings, “how far along before we fade away?” He uses the track to express his concern for the arch of humanity and our lack of empathy. To him, every step we take forward as a species comes with a cost that is all too often placed upon those least capable of paying, as he expresses with the line, “the arrogant numb to our needs.”
“Amongst the Shadows and the Stones” explores similar themes through the lens of endless war. Heafy sings about a mother reconciling a hellish landscape to feed her child and lessons learned through broken bones and corpses as thunderous production from Josh Wilbur adds extra bite to an already ferocious track. The energy of the song will make people move, but it is the message that lingers the longest. Trivium has seen enough to that know that substantial changes are needed to save humanity from itself. Until such changes are made people will continue to die for no other reason than making money with the blood of the innocent, which is something the band cannot support.
Does that line of thinking make Heafy an anarchist? Far from it. The overwhelming sentiment throughout What The Dead Men Say is Heafy and the rest of Trivium’s concern for others. As the title infers, we must learn from those that came before or we will be doomed to fall victim to similar behaviors. Trivium had no way of knowing their record would arrive amidst a global pandemic where the wealthiest among us are urging the working-class masses to return to normalcy despite scientific evidence that such actions would endanger their lives. Nevertheless, the band has supplied the perfect soundtrack for fighting against such tyranny with a perspective aimed at making the world a better place for everyone. What The Dead Men Say is a heavy record with heart, and it’s the second half of that description that matters most.
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