New TRIVIUM Album Became 'Much Darker' And 'Heavier' After Addition Of Drummer ALEX BENT

The four members of TRIVIUM were recently interviewed as part of AOL's Build Series. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the addition of TRIVIUM's new drummer, Alex Bent, prior to the recording of the band's latest album, "The Sin and The Sentence", guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy said: "It was quite a daunting task, 'cause when we knew it was time to make a drummer change again — and for those of you who are new with TRIVIUM, we've had quite a few drummers; we've had four studio drummers in the band while the rest of us have always stayed the same. So it was definitely a question.

"What's great is when people the drums for the first time, when they hear 'The Sin And The Sentence' come in, there's no question of why. They're, like, 'Oh, I get it. I know why you have Alex, 'cause he can do everything you ever wanted a drummer to do.'

"When we first jammed with him, we had a lot of the music together, but it was sort of going one direction for the record. And when we heard him nail everything across the first seven records, and then we started talking about music and vibing into what else we liked… 'Cause the big thing the three of us have always loved is metal, but also extreme metal, like black metal and death metal, melodic death metal, all the different subgenres of music. And we've had some drummers who don't go as extreme as we like to. When we heard what Alex liked to do and how he can play at 10 and can go extreme, it inspired all of us and I think the record started taking a much darker, heavier extreme turn at the same time. So it was definitely motivational to have someone like that."

Added guitarist Corey Beaulieu: "For the first time, instead of trying to do 12, 13 songs in one sitting and trying to figure out all the stuff, when he came in to rehearse for the tour that we had — I think it was February/March — we wanted to get a head start on writing to see what that would be like. We did half the record in December, writing and demoing, and then we got to go on tour, play a bunch of shows and get even more acquainted, playing-wise, together. Then, after that, we did the next six songs, or seven songs, and it was cool, because, after doing the first half and seeing how that turned out, and being more familiar with his playing style, we kind of, like… in that time, before we did the next six, there was a lot of us individually going back and reworking some ideas to be, like… 'All right, Well, playing with him now and doing the first six songs gave me… the lightbulb went off where you're, like, 'Ooh, I can do something like…' You can really explore some other stuff where you maybe shut it off before that you knew you weren't gonna be able to pull it off, that you kind of don't think like that. And then when you don't really have any restrictions, so many different ideas come about. And I think the second half, as [Matt] was saying, things got a little darker and heavier. I think it was from the experience from the first six songs, and then when we went into the next half, there was no shackles as far as the creativity. We just kind of went for it, and I think fans really enjoy it when we go off like that."

"The Sin And The Sentence" was released in October via Roadrunner. The disc was recorded with producer Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA) at Santa Ana, California's Hybrid Studios.

Bent's predecessor, Paul Wandtke made his live debut with TRIVIUM in December 2015 at Knotfest in Mexico. A short time later, he appeared in an official promotional photo with the three core members of the band.

Paul joined the Florida outfit on the recommendation of DREAM THEATER's Mike Mangini and replaced Mat Madiro, who departed due to reasons of "creativity."

Madiro was the featured drummer on TRIVIUM's 2015 album, "Silence In The Snow".