MATT HEAFY On TRIVIUM's Upcoming Album 'Crown In The Grave': 'I Cannot Stop Listening To It, As A Fan Of Music'

In a new interview with Nik Nocturnal's podcast, TRIVIUM vocalist/guitarist Matthew K. Heafy spoke about the band's mindset going into the making of TRIVIUM's upcoming album, "Crown In The Grave", which will arrive on November 20 through Roadrunner Records. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This next record, we really sat together consciously and said, 'This next record that we do has to be the greatest thing we've ever done.' But how? Everyone always says that. It has to be the best songs. The songs are more important than anything. They're more important than any guitar part I can do, more important than any high-pitched falsetto vocal scream or any low-pitched guttural scream. The songs come before everything. And is everyone there? We have to make this the distillation of what TRIVIUM is. The whole record has to make sense with the whole record. Everything has to make sense with everything.

"In retrospect, when we look back at certain records, [2021's] 'In The Court Of The Dragon' was a very extreme record, and I'm, like, 'Wow, this is like really technical, and there's a lot of riffs.' We kind of didn't realize. It's, like, wow, we're kind of going European extreme metal with some of this stuff. There's black metal — maybe not black metal, but very technical metal going on here. Whereas [2017's] '[The] Sin [And The Sentence]', we finally made everyone agree, 'Okay, here's a TRIVIUM record we could all agree on.' Because before it was, 'No, 'Ascendancy''s the best.' 'No, 'In Waves' is the best.' 'No, 'Shogun''s the best.' And 'Sin' kind of brought everyone together. [2020's] '[What The] Dead Men [Say]' was a slight continuation of that, but then 'Dragon', we just went nuts. We were, like, 'Let's kind of do whatever. Let's throw everything that we can do just to show we could do it all.' And then the [2025's] 'Struck Dead' EP, originally we thought that was gonna lead to the [new full-length] record, and with all the circumstances that went around that, the world tour that changed, things like that, that actually helped us a lot. So with that, that actually did us a big favor, 'cause we were thinking those three songs were gonna tell us what the next record was gonna be. And as we had some time now, [we were], like, 'You know what? Maybe this isn't where we wanna be.' So the next record is absolutely nothing like the EP whatsoever. It's nothing like the EP at all."

Illustrating how happy he is with how "Crown In The Grave" turned out, Heafy added: "I've always felt that bands should be proud of what they make. It should be like a chef. I love food more than anything in the world. So you think about food — the chef has to taste every single step. They have to taste every ingredient that goes in. They have to be a fan of what they make. They have to eat the final dish and be proud of it and like it, and it has to nourish them. I feel like it should be the same thing for musicians. Musicians should love the music they're making. If they don't love the music they're making, and I'm not saying they need to listen to it all the time when they're driving in the car and stuff, but they should appreciate, be able to look back, listen, enjoy. If they're not enjoying it, then why should anyone else? But with the new record, which blows my mind, 'cause I've always been able to look back and be proud, and play it on stream and listen to it — not listen to it while I'm working out or driving necessarily, but I can listen to it on a plane, like, 'Hey, I wanna analyze this record, go back and jump into this.' This new record, I cannot stop listening to it, as a fan of music. As me stepping outside of me, Matt from TRIVIUM, it's not even when I listen to it, I'm not even thinking, 'I'm listening to myself.' It's, no, I'm listening to kind of metal songs I've been missing out in metal. And I've never had that before with our stuff. I've always been proud, I've always liked it, I've always tasted every step of the way and been able to taste the dish and enjoy it when we play live. I'm not sick of playing 'Pull Harder [On The Strings Of Your Martyr]', I'm not sick of playing 'Like Light To The Flies'. We're playing 'Fugue (A Revelation)', which I wrote when I was 15 now on tour. So I've had that since I was 15 years old, and I'm proud to play it. I love playing it. But listening to 'Crown In The Grave', I can listen to it while I'm working out, which is weird. I can listen to it to pump me up. It's crazy. Even on the drive up to here, I was, like, 'Okay, I'm driving. I wanna listen to our stuff again.' I can listen to it as a fan of metal, which is nuts, and I feel like everyone who makes music should be like that."

For the first time, TRIVIUM crafted "Crown In The Grave" in the band's own creative hub and de facto clubhouse — The Hangar — in Orlando. Plus, they officially welcomed drummer Alex Rüdinger (Rüdi) in the studio. During 2015, the drummer nearly joined TRIVIUM, but opted to focus on other endeavors. A decade later, he heeded the call after the departure of Alex Bent, who was a member of TRIVIUM from 2017 until 2025.

For the making of "Crown In The Grave", TRIVIUM reteamed with longtime producer Josh Wilbur (KORN, LAMB OF GOD) and worked with mixer Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, AMON AMARTH) for the first time.

TRIVIUM will hit the road on November 5 in St. Petersburg, Florida and run through December 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina for a North American headline run, with IN FLAMES, ORBIT CULTURE, FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY and FROZEN SOUL in tow.

Photo credit: Rob Aboltins