Overview
Today I am reviewing Trivium’s eighth studio album, “The Sin and the Sentence”, released on October 20, 2017 from Roadrunner Records. This album includes their singles “The Sin and the Sentence”, “The Heart from Your Hate”, “Betrayer”, and “Endless Night”. This album has harsh vocals in addition to their clean vocals, which is a departure from their last album “Silence in the Snow” which only has clean vocals. Alex Bent also joined the band and replaced the previous drummer.
Song Analysis
Oooooooh the album starts off so nicely with the title track “The Sin and the Sentence”. The drums and opening riffs sound so cool, they pull you right in with a bang. Halfway through this track there are pretty melodic guitars and gnarly drum moments, which lead into another cool guitar solo as well. I really enjoy the words, “You condemn me / Cause you don’t understand me”. So often people judge or treat those harshly that they cannot communicate well with. There is some pretty crazy drumming toward the end!!
Next we have “Beyond Oblivion” which really starts out with some pounding drums and guitars which transition into a mosh-inducing groove. There are some group vocal moments and gnarly drumming. This song gets really sick half way through, with some more tricky drumming that I am trying to wrap my mind around! Then we have some nice guitar solos. This song goes out with a bang with pounding drums! Did I forget to mention how much I enjoyed the drumming?!!
“Other Worlds” begins with some cool “distant” sounding vocals in the intro. The lyrics in this track really stood out to me:
Do you even care to try to understand
Where we went wrong or how it seems?
We’re dreaming in color
Believing no other, ‘cause
We’re living in other worlds
Breathing in other worlds”
These lyrics to me feel like the writer is writing about how we all have different visions of the world and how we want things to be, but a lack of communication can ruin all efforts made. It’s also hard to accomplish your goals with other people when you are working toward different goals.
We start off “The Heart from Your Hate” with more distant sounding guitars, which transition into pounding riffs. This is such a catchy song, and it only gets catchier with time. I think a lot of people can relate to the lyrics “What will it take to rip the heart from your hate?” I think most people probably have experienced being close to someone in their life that was actually a bitter relationship of any kind.
”Betrayer” starts with a super cool and speedy opening, very tight drum playing as we hear “BETRAYERRRRRR”. I love the guitar solos in the middle with some pretty cool drums too. I am actually not sure if I should call it a guitar solo or a drum solo, they both sound great together, both are highlighted pretty well. I enjoy the lyrics: “I’ll never be a victim for you / I’ll never be your fool / I’ll never be a victim / betrayer / betrayer”. I really like how the pitch slides lower when Matt sings “I’ll”, it seems like a small detail but has such a big effect and really adds to the song. This song sounds very sick. Too much talent in one band! Gosh. Cool outro drums and riffs too.
One thing I really took away from “Endless Night” is how emotional the lyrics are, they stand out greatly.
At worst of times
I never got the answer
They never told me, if you’re not careful
What doesn’t kill you can control you
Now it defines me
And it reminds me that it will never let me go”
These lyrics are relatable, for me I personally think of my chronic health issues that have ruled my life and left me bed ridden most of my adult years. I hope this will eventually be left in the past, it has controlled most of my life at this point. After half way through this song, there is some sultry guitar solos layered over gentle acoustic guitar.
”Sever the Hand” has nice, dreary opening guitars over pounding drums. I love how aggressive the words “life burns me alive” are growled, it sounds great next to the singing and really packs a punch. The are some pleasant guitar solos a little before the half way point in the song, then there is nice drumming leading to some moshing moments, then a little palm muting, then some sick drum solos! This song finishes off repeating a lot of themes present earlier in the song. It’s amazing!!
Finishing off the album, “Thrown Into the Fire” starts off with pounding guitars and grim drums. This paves the way for more intense drumming and chugging riffs, turning into sounds that make you want to jump around. There are some gnarly shredding moments half way through with speedy drums. We finish off this song with a sultry guitar solo, sounding almost like the guitar is singing. This song has a very unforgiving and harsh tone, a really strong way to end the album.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this album and thought it was pretty rad. There are tons of amazing moments that I think I could listen to this album 100 more times then write this review and still not really do the album justice. This album definitely packs a powerful punch and Alex Bent really does make a nice addition to this band.
