Review TRIVIUM ‘In the Court of the Dragon’

Friends of thundering riffs and massive beats welcomed a new player back in 1999 – Trivium. The band from Orlando, Florida started in the old century, and it took them a while to transfer their ambition into something tangible. ‘Ember to Inferno’ is title of the 2003 released debut and it was the following record, ‘Ascendancy’ that acts as a break-through release. Having found a home with Roadrunner Records the band is since then a constant factor in the fields of modern thrash metal that shows until today some metalcore references too.

Trivium, that is founding member Matt Heafy who works together with his bandmates Corey Beaulieu and Paolo Gregoletto since nearly two decades. Being able to build on a rather stable line-up allows the band to release tight and energetic metal records and since there is with drummer Alex Bent a new Trivium member part of the band since 2017, a good outside-in inspiration isn’t missing either.

The four-piece band worked on songs for their next album that is now available at the record stores. ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ stands out by its excellently crafted music, and still it is the artwork that grabs attention first. Romains, colosseum, dragon and life or death scenery is what listeners notice first. Kept in a Renaissance-painting style, the artwork is a real eye-catcher.

However, what counts is the product the artwork wraps. The first song, that has been revealed was ‘Feast of Fire’, one of these songs that developed while working on the album. The song combines a lot of Trivium’s trademarks. There are the hoarse screams as well as there are the blistering riffs and solo parts. At the same time the song isn’t shy of a good melody and parts with clean vocals. The combination of all this qualifies the tune for being a well-chosen first single.

The start of the album is entitled ‘X’ and is a short intro before the title track unleashes its merciless drive. It’s a massive start into the album that finds its continuation with ‘Like a Sword over Damocles’. Trivium keeps this track a bit slower without losing any of the impressive energy. It’s a roaring song with a groove the reminds a South American thrash pioneer.

A track that also is worth to be mentioned is ‘The Shadow of the Abattoir’. With an acoustic and calmer, but still dark beginning, the song evolves to a powerful metal epic that has with seven minutes also a decent running time.

Trivium’s tenth longplayer is a great next step and builds on the strength of the previous release ‘What the dead Man Say’. There is a consistency when it comes to power and drive, which makes you forget the weaker album from the past, like ‘Silence in the Snow’. ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ is a metal assault that showcases a band that is on fire.