Eight albums into their illustrious career, Trivium have this veteran band stuff down pat. With almost 20 years in as a band, and over 15 with recorded output, long in the rear-view is the time when they were the very young upstarts in the jaded metal world. Trivium are not trying to reinvent the wheel, unveil a jarring new genre influence, or convert fans from the latest fad of the month at Hot Topic. Nope. Trivium keeps on chugging album after album, with their blend of neo-thrash love, metalcore breakdowns, shreddy solos, and their NWOBHM-inspired catchiness. Their new album The Sin And the Sentence (Roadrunner) has all those things in place.

Much talked about in the run-up to this release was the return of Matt Heafy’s screamed harsh vocals, absent from Silence In The Snow (also Roadrunner). In truth, there have been periods of the bands’ career where they eschewed heavy vocals for several major releases, and it never really made too much of a difference in quality. The band has a penchant for winning at melodicism and made their bones on writing a catchy as hell chorus or two or three. That said Heafy coming to the table with his full vocal range for The Sin And The Sentence has made the dynamics of these songs jump up a clear notch or two.

The title track kicks things off and it’s definitely classic Trivium time. Jumping right into gear with pure heavy metal riffs coming from the altar of Iron Maiden, but heavier. After a brief verse, the bellows of the chorus announces that “heavy Heafy” is back. ‘Beyond Oblivion’ is fast, and rageful. New drummer Alex Bent (ex-Battlecross) just slays on the entire album with his mix of fast kicks and heavy feel. The drums are one of the highlights for this band, which hasn’t happened in a while.

‘Other Worlds’ is a cool, groove-heavy mid-tempo number, for the most part, calls to mind some of the bands memorable first few albums. Meanwhile, the uber-ear worm of ‘The Heart From Your Hate’ is going to inspire of tines of sing-a-longs for the next few years, wherever Trivium graces the stage. While there is no out-and-out “10” song for me on this album à la ‘In Waves’, ‘Betrayer’ comes close. Hooky refrains, sick vocals, slick heavy-light dynamics and more; this track has it all.

Some of the songs suffer from a little sameness, but you can’t argue with a band who not only has a good formula, but has a fan base that eats it up like breakfast. Tracks like ‘Endless Night’ will leave you wanting, but heavy tracks ‘Sever the Hand’, the borderline prog of The Revanchist’, and the blackened thrash closer ‘Thrown Into The Fire’ are all enjoyable on repeat listens.

Definitely a solid to above average album in places, which will more than hold up over their last few releases.

8.0

KEITH CHACHKES