TRIVIUM'S New EP Is A Small Record But Packs A Big Musical, Lyrical Punch

By: Philip Sayblack

Trivium is bringing its music to the masses again.  The band is in the midst of a tour in support of its new EP, Struck Dead.  The tour’s next stop is tonight in Calgary, AB.  For those who have not yet heard the EP, which was released Oct. 31 through its longtime label, Roadrunner Records, the 3-song record is a powerful work, but musically and lyrically.  All three songs that make up the EP’s 17-minute body make that clear.  All in all, they make this record one more of this year’s best new EPs.
Struck Dead, the recently released new EP from Trivium, is a solid new offering from the veteran hard rock band.  This is proven through the musical arrangements and lyrical themes presented in each of the record’s songs.  ‘Bury Me With My Screams,’ the EP’s opener, makes that crystal clear.  The song’s heavy, melodic metal and style is familiar territory for the band.  That familiarity, blended with the thrash style opening, and the equally intense down-tuned almost death metal style breakdown in the song’s second half, makes for such a unique whole herein, musically speaking.  Add in the intense guttural vocals from front man Matt Heafy, and the song’s musical arrangement overall becomes that much more hard hitting. 
The overall musical arrangement here is interesting in how it works with the song’s lyrical theme, which at least to this critic, comes across as being about the familiar topic of a person battling with their own inner demons, so to speak.  This is inferred as Heafy sings at first in the chorus, “Bury me/With my screams/They’re pulling me down inside/I can’t say that I know where the body lays inside/So bury me with my screams” before changing the subject’s mindset later, stating, “I must claw myself out of this/I see there is light above me/So I journey up this hell/I refuse to rot in my own prison cell/I dug this hole/Threw myself in/And blamed the world/I know where the body lays/So bury me with my screams/I will climb from the depths/Innermost turmoil.”  Those final lines, that decided determination makes the heaviness in the noted breakdown in the song’s second half make sense.  That sense of emotional heaviness is on full display, lyrically and enhanced even more through that musical heaviness.  The whole of the song’s musical arrangement and its seeming lyrical theme makes the whole a clear example of how much the record has to offer audiences.
‘Struck Dead (Pain Is Easier to Remember),’ the EP’s second track, is another unique addition to this record.  That is due in part to its featured musical arrangement.  In the song’s verses, Heafy utilizes a vocal styling that is easily comparable to that of Hatebreed front man Jamey Jasta.  This is not unfamiliar territory for Heafy but also not overly commonplace for him, either.  The contrast of that approach to the more emotional, clean vocal style in the choruses, which is comparable – to a point – to that of Slipknot front man Corey Taylor makes for such a unique juxtaposition.  It is an approach that audiences will agree Heafy is to be commended for taking.  On the instrumentation side, the heavy, crunching guitars in the verses are just as intense as works from Hatebreed.  At the same time, there are some thrash moments that are immediately likened to works from none other than Slayer.  This is evidenced in the “screaming” guitar riffs.  The rhythm section, with its thunderous approach puts the finishing touch to the whole. 
The intensity of the song’s musical arrangement pairs well with the song’s lyrical content, which delivers a relatively simple message.  The message here comes across as being in the same vein as that in the EP’s opener.  In this case however, this comes across as the song’s subject being at that low point in life, feeling lost in the emotional depths.  This as Heafy screams in the song’s lead verse and sings in each chorus, “Pain is easier to remember/Struck dead/Struck dead from within/Struck f****** dead/Pain is easier to remember/I must descend again/I fanned the flames and now they’re fed/I need to fall from grace/And suffer like I do/This common blackness creeps below/It pulls me down/And won’t let go/Why must I fall again/And suffer like I do?”  The seeming theme of being stuck in that low place continues later in the song as Heafy adds, “The wings I’ve grown have atrophied/The vultures have picked my bones clean/This hungry pack of anxieties/Salivates and chews/Back into the nothingness/Swallowed by my fears”  Turning one’s anxieties into a creature of sorts, that eats at a person is an interesting manner of speaking.  Noting that the person’s wings – that determination to get out of that dark place – have atrophied is a powerful visual.  It shows the person trying to get out of that dark emotional place, but falling back down like Icarus’ wings melting when he got too close to the sun.  This is someone who wants to get out of that dark place but is struggling.  To that end, if in fact that is the message being delivered, the whole is a strong delivery.  When it is coupled with the song’s musical arrangement, the whole therein makes the song all the more resonant with so many audiences.  That is because there are so many audiences going through what is seemingly being discussed here.
‘Six Walls’ closes out Trivium’s new EP.  Fittingly it is also the album’s longest song, clocking in at seven minutes, 19 seconds.  The song’s musical arrangement starts subtle enough before becoming far more intense, presenting a heavy, thrash approach in the verse.  The choruses present a more melodic hard rock styling.  The intensity of the verses makes sense, considering the song’s lyrical message, which comes across once more as being delivered by someone who feels trapped, emotionally.  The metaphorical language here of essentially being trapped in a coffin, “hands clawing from the grave…I buried myself alive” makes that seeming message clear.  Add in that Heafy notes, “Six walls surround me/the scent of pride and fear…death is near” and audiences see how the song’s subject “buried himself alive.”  He brought the misery on himself, considering that “pride cometh before the fall.”  Again, if this interpretation (that of putting oneself in that place of darkness) is correct, then once again, it is a message, a discussion that will resonate with a wide range of audiences.  To that end, the whole herein is yet more example of how much this EP has to offer audiences.  All things considered Struck Dead proves itself another interesting offering from Trivium that is also among the best of this year’s new EPs.
Struck Dead, the latest new studio recording from Trivium, is a strong new offering from the band.  It is a presentation that is sure to have wide appeal.  This is proven through its musical and lyrical content alike, as has been discussed here.  Considering the record’s overall body, it proves to be one more of this year’s best new EPs.
Struck Dead is available now through Roadrunner Records.  More information on the EP, and Trivium’s current tour in support of the record is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: https://www.trivium.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Trivium
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TriviumOfficial