TRIVIUM Guitarist On 'The Sin And The Sentence': 'We Just Wanted To Write A Really Ripping Metal Record'

TRIVIUM guitarist Corey Beaulieu was interviewed by Soundlink TV at this year's Carolina Rebellion festival, which was held in early May at Rock City Campgrounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked about TRIVIUM's songwriting approach for the band's latest album, last year's "The Sin And The Sentence", Corey said: "We just wanted to write a really ripping metal record and not get sucked into the formulaic… writing specifically to get on the radio or something like that and either softening or dumbing down or getting more simplistic, to think that that's gonna get more fans. We just kind of took the approach where our fans like it when we rip — play tons of riffs and have the screaming and big melodies and guitar-duel stuff and solos. We were just, like, 'We're just gonna write a record that's just… this is what TRIVIUM is. We're not writing for anything besides just writing a really killer record — a great metal record that you can listen to from start to finish, and it's got a bunch of variety of different songs.' And that's just how we approached it. We didn't let any producer or record label dictate what we did. We just kind of blocked everyone out and just went into our jam spot and just wrote music that we wanted to play and what we thought was really cool. That's always kind of been our approach, and the fans seem to… they get it; they get what we're doing. Ever since the first record, it's, like… When you don't have any fans, you just write music that you like to play and that you think is cool. And we just kind of always kept that approach — that we think if we enjoy it and we're having fun playing it and writing it, then we think our fans will too."

Corey also talked about how TRIVIUM has adapted to the changes in the music industry, particularly in the way fans consume music.

"We've always been a touring band, so we just relied on the grass-roots building a fanbase," he said. "And we're big supporters of streaming — we all use and love and support Spotify and all the streaming music. One way is to embrace new technology and help promote it. We try to get as many fans to try it out, 'cause the more people that pay for the service, the more money that gets put into it to pay bands money. And it's convenient — you don't have to drag around CD booklets on tour anymore. So it's always about just trying to find the new media, new ways to promote stuff. And, obviously, with people being able to listen to whatever they want — like if you pay for Spotify, you can listen to any kind of music you want. And I think the great thing about it [is] any band — signed or not, independent artist — can get on all the same services. You don't have to have a record deal to get your music out. So I think it's really put an emphasis on you having to make… You have to give people a really killer product — you can't half-ass a record; you can't put out something that's mediocre. You want the people to pay attention to you, 'cause there's a million other things that they can go listen to. So I think it puts a lot more, I guess, pressure on a lot of people to having to write really killer and put out a great product. So we put a lot of time into making sure… curating all our albums, merchandise, everything — try to make it as top-notch as possible, that when people buy a box set or the vinyl or the record, they feel like they're getting their money's worth or even more than their money's worth with what they're getting. So we try to give the fans… If they're gonna spend money on our band, we wanna at least make sure that they're getting the best product they can. And I think that's a good thing for the industry, 'cause it'll definitely get a lot of bands to try harder. And then hopefully the bands that don't, it just kind of weeds out the crap that doesn't need to be there."

"The Sin And The Sentence" was recorded with Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA) at Santa Ana, California's Hybrid Studios. The effort marked TRIVIUM's first recordings with drummer Alex Bent, who joined the band in 2016.