Corey Beaulieu

HOW MUCH EXTRA SCOPE DID THE RETURN OF MATT’S SCREAMED VOCALS GIVE TO THE SONGWRITING PROCESS?

“We’d been touring for a while with Matt screaming and also discussing what we wanted to do for the next album. We wanted Trivium to be heavier and knew that screaming would be incorporated into the songs in some form. Knowing we could utilise the screaming element just meant we didn’t have to hold back any aggression in the music because we knew he could match it vocally.”

DID YOU LOOK AT YOUR OWN BACK CATALOGUE FOR INFLUENCES OR POINTERS ON THIS ALBUM?

“Paolo, Matt and I would talk on the bus or at dinner about our previous albums and about what records we felt like we completely nailed what Trivium is all about. All our albums are who we are – we didn’t want to look back and try to rehash something, instead it was just letting all of who we are out on one album.”

HOW MUCH DID NEW DRUMMER ALEX BENT BRING TO THE BAND ON THIS RECORD?

“Having Alex with us really gave us the freedom to play whatever we could think of as songwriters. All you have to do is listen to the album – his playing speaks for itself.”

ANY REASON BEHIND THE RETURN TO SUCH LENGTHY SONGS ON THIS ALBUM?

“It wasn’t planned; the four of us just went into our jam spot and played for hours each day. We were writing and keeping creative juices flowing until the songs felt right. We wanted to take some unexpected turns, and make sure each song had something different to say and had its own place on the album.”