TRIVIUM Are Making 'A Pure Ass-Kicking Metal Record'

TRIVIUM guitarist/vocalist Corey Beaulieu recently participated in a fan question-and-answer session via the Roadrunner Records U.K. web site. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Q: How do you guys plan to raise the bar on "The Crusade" after everything you've accomplished with "Ascendancy"?

Corey: "We all have improved as musicians and we are growing as a band so we are just writing stronger material... so we are going to take what we did on 'Ascendancy' and expand on our sound and make a pure ass-kicking metal record."

Q: I've heard you were into GUNS N' ROSES before you really got into metal. Have they influenced your songwriting at all, do you think?

Corey: "GUNS N' ROSES was the first band I ever heard, so it got me into the hard rock/metal genre. They didn't influence me songwriting-wise — they were more of a blues-based rock band I was more influenced by the METALLICA/MEGADETH side of things. 'November Rain' is a great song! None of us can play piano so there isn't a way to write a song like that... but I am a big fan of the epic big orchestrated songs GUNS N' ROSES did on the 'Use Your Illusion' [parts] 1/2 record ..."

Q: Do you think METALLICA sold out with the black album and lost their sound from then on? You guys say you want to be bigger than METALLICA. Would you ever do what they did down the line?

Corey: "I don't think the sold out. They just wanted to do something different. Just 'cause the songs are accessible and easier for people to understand and get into doesn't mean they sold out. The point of that record wasn't to make a shitload of money. It could have flopped. You never know when doing a album how it's going to do. We just write music we want to play and would want to listen to if we were a fan. Later on in our career sometimes bands change things up to make things fresh for them and keep the fire for what they love. Working the same job every day and doing the exact same thing gets really fuckin' boring so I think that's why some bands down the road do something to mix things up."

Q: What's the next album gonna be like? Has your style changed at all?

Corey: "It sounds like TRIVIUM; it's just more thrashed... more musical and teched out guitar-wise than the last one. The biggest difference between the records is going to be the vocals. It will be different than what everyone probably thinks."

Check out the entire question-and-answer session at this location.