TRIVIUM Frontman Discusses Next Album In New Interview

Sergio Pereira of South Africa's MusicReview.co.za web site recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy of Florida metallers TRIVIUM about the band's forthcoming studio album, due later in the year via Roadrunner Records. A couple of excerpts from the question-and-answer session follow below.

MusicReview.co.za: "Shogun" featured several mythological themes. Is the new album going to be a continuation of this?

Heafy: "Shogun"'s mythological themes were something that felt called for by the music. Every CD has been so different with its lyrical inspiration that this next album will definitely be its own thing. So, it won't be carrying the mythological feel of "Shogun".

MusicReview.co.za: Musically, what can we expect? Is it a combination of everything TRIVIUM has already done?

Heafy: It's tricky to describe. We want it to be that this next album just sounds like "TRIVIUM." We may have — probably have — said that every record's goal is that, and it has been, but this time it's without question. There have always been experimental songs, since [2005's] "Ascendancy", on our albums, and this time the CD will only have what it is meant to have.

MusicReview.co.za: TRIVIUM's previous albums have included longer instrumental-only tracks. Can we expect the same this time around?

Heafy: Unfortunately, as of right now, there doesn't seem to be an instrumental song that will be on the album. However, there will be songs that do things we have never had as a song formula before.

MusicReview.co.za: It seems like the moment a metal band achieves moderate commercial success, such as TRIVIUM, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and AVENGED SEVENFOLD, suddenly they become hated by elitists and, especially, Internet trolls. How do you handle this negativity and abuse? Do you just switch off after a while?

Heafy: Honestly, nowadays, the hate feels less than it's ever been. In actuality, there are probably far more people that DON'T like us, but our population of people who love us is so much bigger than it used to be; so it's a much smaller percentage of negativity, even though it's technically more of a voice. I feel that any band that has some sort of mainstream success — not calling us a mainstream band, [but] meaning being in magazines, radio, etc. — will have haters out of principle. But you can't think of that; there is too much good.

Read the entire interview from MusicReview.co.za.