TRIVIUM | The Sin And The Sentence | Album Review

There seems to be an excessive amount of bands these days that get too much of a bad wrap for traversing a different route with their cornerstone style, coercing fans to throw labels like "sellout" and "mainstream" around ad nauseum. However, when a band decides to come back with an aspiration to make something on par with earlier works, everyone takes notice. For fans of Trivium, the sense of satisfaction wasn't felt with much of their output in this decade, a couple of examples being the David Draiman produced disc "Vengeance Falls" as well as "Silence In The Snow". Neither of these albums carried their energy throughout in the same way that an album like "Ascendancy" or "The Crusade" did but rather went for a more simplified modern metal sound, so much so that "Silence In The Snow" was completely devoid of any screamed vocals from the band's frontman Matt Heafy. That can be a turnoff to many people for some strange reason, but when you realize that the absence of gruff vocals on that album was primarily due to an injury of Heafy's vocal chords, everything sort of comes full circle. But, even with that, Trivium has always been one of the most consistent bands that came from the metalcore scene in the mid 2000's, with each album they've created working in a completely different way than the one before it and the one after it. Each one has its own quality even though there admittedly were albums in their repertoire that were better than others. The same could be said for the band's next evolutionary step in the form of the disc, "The Sin And The Sentence", which sees the return of Matt Heafy's screamed vocals as well as a new drummer. 

At the end of the summer, Trivium surprised us with the first taste of what this project would give us with the title track which actually opens up this album. This is definitely a track that really grows on you the more you listen to it. While the musicianship from the entire band is delivered well, it really takes multiple listens to appreciate what the band is doing throughout the over six minutes of music you're hearing in the song. Everything is presented and paced well and the song delivers at the right moments, whether it be a verse section or the bombastic chorus of the song where Matt Heafy's screamed vocals are mixed in with his clean vocals, and there isn't really an aspect about this that makes the song disjointed which is a hard task to accomplish. While this song isn't really one of my favorite tracks on this album, it's a good example of what you'll be coming across on the entirety of the album. The album will have an occasional moment where you'll be reminded of the more simplified material from this band, present in songs like "The Heart From Your Hate" and "Endless Night" (which borrows a lot from songs like "Dying In Your Arms" and "A Grey So Dark"), but these parts of the album help to add diversity to what could be the heaviest Trivium album since "Shogun". The band really made the smart decision not to make an album that just relies on the heavier style of the title track, but when you actually do examine the heavier tracks in the track listing, you'll easily be blown out of proportion by what the band conceived in the writing sessions for this album. 

If there is something that needs to be known immediately, it's that the musicianship is probably the best it has ever been on a Trivium record to date. Alex Bent is the new drummer of the band and he is probably one of the best parts of this entire album. This guy is extremely talented at his craft and his performance undoubtedly sticks out on songs like the aforementioned title track as well as "Beyond Oblivion" and the amazing track "Betrayer", which I will go out on a limb and consider Trivium's best song to date and one of the most bombastic and awe-inspiring metal songs I've heard in quite some time. It's not just because of Alex's drum performance but it's really how everything meshes together that makes this the best song on the album. From the guitar riffs and solos on the song to the prominent bass to Matt Heafy's vocals, it's really a modern masterpiece of a metal song, and I feel like this is the creativity that should be implemented by more bands of this style. This can also apply to the two closing tracks of the disc, those tracks being "The Revanchist" and "Thrown Into The Fire". "The Revanchist" runs for over 7 minutes and features more excellent musicianship, and there is even a lengthy break in between the second chorus and the final section of the song to show off some impeccable guitar soloing by Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu, while "Thrown Into The Fire" closes the album in a very chaotic way with the meshing of Matt's vocals and the musicianship and it's a perfect ending to the effort. 

Overall, I really can't recommend this album enough. It's these kinds of metalcore/heavy metal albums that make me come back to the genre. Granted, this album isn't perfect and it's not my favorite metal album of all time. There are tracks on here that don't stick out as much as others, but even with the lesser moments there's still a drive to appreciate the talent that truly went into them as the album never stalls or steps on the brakes during its 57 minute runtime, and I am confident in saying that every song on here feels worth listening to. All eleven of these songs are fantastic in their own way. For those who have felt mixed about Trivium's output during this decade and are approaching this new album with a lot of fear, you have no reason to as you will get exactly what you want in this amalgamation of old and new. Those who really enjoy the newer Trivium stuff from albums like "Silence In The Snow" will definitely get what they're wanting here and will probably be blown away by its quality. This is an album that registers as something for every fan of Trivium and for every fan of metal in general. This is definitely one of the best metal albums I've heard in a long time (not counting stuff that's much more alongside the line of progressive), and it could be very high among the best albums from this genre that I've heard all year long. This is definitely an album worth purchasing before it's too late. 

RATING: 10/10

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.