Trivium: still adding to their trove of treasures
ALL PRESS
HOW LONG DOES a ‘return to form’ have to last until it’s just ‘form’? You all know Trivium’s story at this point: the highs of instant classic Ascendancy, the troughs of The Crusade and Vengeance Falls and the stunning redemption of 2017’s The Sin And The Sentence and last year’s What The Dead Men Say. Weirdly, despite all of this contextual weight, when approaching In The Court Of The Dragon you just never really ever felt in any doubt that Trivium 2021 would or could let you down. The band have just been so good, so reliable, in the last five years that you really shouldn’t be surprised to hear that (spoiler alert) this album is another exceptional effort.
The title track, ushered in after X’s 90-second intro, sets the tone perfectly. It’s an awe-inspiringly brilliant modern metal song, powered by dizzying drumming from Alex Bent, riffs Dimebag Darrell would have been proud of and a memorable vocal performance from Matt Heafy that swerves from full fistswinging rage into a bombastic chest-swelling croon. Like A Sword Over Damocles follows, and is, similarly, everything you’d want from a metal band in 2021. Whether you’re a fan of Kreator, Killswitch Engage or Kvelertak it’s got a flavour for you.
The band have done radio-friendly material in the past, with varied results, but the anthemic and soaring Feast Of Fire might just be the very finest example of it they’ve ever produced. Yes, better than Dying In Your Arms or Until The World Goes Cold – it’s that good. By track four any concerns you may have had haven’t just been chucked in the bin, they’ve already been picked up by the dump truck and are now deep underground in some landfill plot in the middle of nowhere.
“IT’S HARD TO SEE WHO CAN COMPETE WITH TRIVIUM RIGHT NOW”