TRIVIUM's MATT HEAFY: SLIPKNOT's First Album 'Changed My Life'

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy was asked which musician deaths in the past year he's been most affected by. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been so many. There's three I wanna go over. Joey Jordison, obviously. SLIPKNOT's '(sic)' was the first song TRIVIUM ever played. I remember being in middle school and high school hiding my headphones underneath my hair during class to listen to that first SLIPKNOT record. That record changed my life. I got to do 'Family Values', and Joey Jordison was on that tour, playing drums for KORN. And I'm so happy I was able to tell Joey that. I told Joey those stories, about what an impact SLIPKNOT had on my life. Alexi Laiho from CHILDREN OF BODOM. Just as much as SLIPKNOT is so important to the formative years of TRIVIUM, so is CHILDREN OF BODOM. CHILDREN OF BODOM might not be a band that [all of your] listeners ar as familiar with, but it's probably one of [Finland's] most legendary extreme metal bands of all time. Their first few records — 'Something Wild', 'Hatebreeder' and 'Follow The Reaper' — I would not be here without. Just as I was saying I would not be here without the first SLIPKNOT record. Alexi Laiho passed too young; I think he was around the same age as Joey as well. And Riley Gale from POWER TRIP. I thought they were a band that could have become another one of the next big and best metal bands in the world. And he passed [at], I think, 34, 35 years old. We were able to, thankfully, bring 'em on a tour and I was able to get to know them.

"What I'm so happy about is all three of those people I was able to tell them how much I love their music," he continued. "That's something that, throughout my years, I always tell people what a fan I am of their stuff. And anytime I tell [that to] a professional musician, they usually get kind of weird about it. But I don't mind. And I'm very happy I was able to tell each of the three of them. I'm terribly broken up that all three of them are gone, but I'm happy I was able to tell them what an impact that they each had on my life."

TRIVIUM will release its tenth album, titled "In The Court Of The Dragon", on October 8 via longtime label Roadrunner Records. The record was produced and mixed by Josh Wilbur and recorded in the fall of 2020 at Full Sail University in Orlando. The album cover is an original oil painting by French artist Mathieu Nozieres.

Last month, TRIVIUM shared the album's title track, "In The Court Of The Dragon", which featured an epic intro composed and orchestrated by Ihsahn (EMPEROR) and was accompanied by an official short film music video directed by Ryan Mackfall.

TRIVIUM has just kicked off "The Metal Tour Of The Year" with MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD and HATEBREED.