TRIVIUM In The Court Of The Dragon | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Roadrunner Records on October 8th, 2021

Quick Background

Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent. The band has sold over one million albums worldwide. After their second album Ascendancy from 2005, the band was seen as the "new Metallica". Trivium  has always powerfully combined modern metal/metalcore with traditional heavy metal. Since then the band has had some ups and downs but while still pretty big and important, they didn't exploded as many expected. Still Trivium  is an important band from the new wave of American heavy metal. 

In The Court Of The Dragon

In the Court of the Dragon is already their tenth studio album, it follows the very good What the Dead Men Say which was released just last year. Following the symphonic intro track X, the album features 10 proper metal tracks and the album totals 53 minutes. The title track follows the intro in one of the most direct ways a song can start, singing the chorus which starts with the track title. It's a very heavy track with a lot of harsh screams, but also a bridge with clean singing. It reminds me of Ascendency, oh and don't forget a heavy breakdown. Heafy's singing both harsh and clean has continued to improve. Overall, strong song. The high tempo "A Crisis Of Revelation" is another good song on the same lines. "Like A Sword Over Damocles" is heavy, groovy and features a catchy chorus that I was singing along after the first listen. 

"The Shadow Of The Abattoir" is one of the three longest songs on the album that go over the 7 minute mark. The slow tempo sections are a bit too soft for me but I do like the chorus and the heavy parts on the song. I also do appreciate their attempt to do something slightly different. Another long one with almost 8 minutes is "Fall Into Your Hands". The longest song on the album. It starts with focus on the drums which was a cool choice. I really enjoy how heavy the song gets and besides the drum focus, there's also some spotlight on the bass and an interesting melodic guitar solo. Overall, a very rounded and dynamic song. Then the album closes with the majestic "The Phalanx". What a great epic 7 minute delight!  When this song gets heavy it's one of the best moments on the entire album. 

Despite some small inconsistencies, the album flows very well and I don't see it as having any fillers. It's just a matter of taste that some songs didn't work for me. The production is good and musically all members continue to step up their game. While I like the album cover, it doesn't really match the music though.

The Picky Guy

The shortest and simplest songs on the album were the ones that I didn't care much for. They were just not interesting and quite safe. "Feast Of Fire" for example, while being an OK song, it brings me back to their attempts of getting more mainstream for example with the Vengeance Falls album. And that's not a good thing. 

Additionally, my small problem with the album as a whole is that it doesn't bring a lot compared to the other albums. OK, mostly nice songs, but the last 3 albums seem to all blend in together and not featuring a distinguishing characteristic. Well, at least that's happening at a high quality with some really good songs.  

Wrap Up Opinion 

Trivium delivered the third solid album in a row. It's slightly inferior to the previous one, but it is still a strong release. I liked specially when they kept the heaviness and in addition adventured to go to slightly more progressive territory with longer songs and some more dynamics. Overall a very good album, 83/100 and I am sure fans will appreciate this new effort. If you don't like Trivium though, In The Court Of The Dragon won't change anything for you.

SCORE: 83/100

Genre: Heavy Metal / Metalcore

Released by Roadrunner Records on October 8th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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