Ten albums in, Trivium are still finding new ways to engage their fans. The band's quarantine covers and live streams were an absolute boon during the long months of lockdown, but now the world is slowly coming back to life, the band are showing no signs of letting up with the round-the-clock content.
Two weeks before the release of In The Court Of The Dragon, Trivium teamed up with The Sabbath – a collective of Birmingham’s heavy music industry who work with some of the biggest names in metal including Slipknot, Megadeth, Amon Amarth, Kreator and more – to put on some special events to commemorate the new record.
Set up as a special weekend of events themed around the new record, the Trivium x Dig Brew event invited fans to descend on the brewery for an exclusive listening party for In The Court Of The Dragon, as well as the chance to get the first taste of the band's own craft beer, Ryujin Biru. Far be it from Hammer to decline attending a piss-up in a brewery, we were there to capture those first reactions to the new record from the fans in attendance.
“Even with Pride on and a sold-out Bring Me The Horizon arena show in the city, we’ve manged to sell out both the listening party and the acoustic show the following day," The Sabbath founder Adam Foster says. "It’s been a hard slog, promoting things in this climate, but its been worth it to see all these people turn out – I’m a huge Trivium fan and it's great to spend people that share that love with me!”
With no further ado, let's see how In The Court Of The Dragon fared with the fans.
Jack, from Tamworth
“Oh man! Trivium are known for their rolling, almost groove metal points and this new album just hit all those notes. It’s very reminiscent of Shogun, which I know is basically every Trivium fan’s favourite record – and definitely mine! I’d say this is the best record they’ve made since In Waves. The guitar-work is fantastic and I’m really impressed with the drums; there’s a lot of rolling, moving pieces. You can just vibe with it!”
Matt, from Birmingham
“I fucking love Shogun right; it’s when they started experimenting with using seven-strings and leaned into the groove elements that helped them move away from The Crusade. But you know what? My favourite album is In Waves – not really sure why, I remember listening to it in uni and the shift from Capsizing The Sea into In Waves just gets me every time. The new album has a lot of similar drops, particularly on that main song In The Court Of The Dragon. The second I hear it, I think ‘how could I not be loving this?’ and the tracks that come afterwards just build bigger and better.”
Izzy, from Leicester
“It was really cool to see how Trivium are mixing all their albums into one bigger style, if that makes sense! Some of the songs were definitely ‘cleaner’, but that also gave a nice interval before they come right back in with the classic-Trivium style riffs.”
Connor, from Sheffield
“In The Court Of The Dragon is a really great album. It feels really raw, but there were also some returns of Shogun style techniques while still keeping the structure they took on with What The Dead Men Say. It’s just so great hearing those two different eras of Trivium come together. Even though it’s their 10th album, it also feels like a launching point where they could go anywhere from here on. Maybe they go back to Shogun, maybe they go Sin or What The Dead Men Say or maybe they’ll go even further and show us something completely different. It’s very exciting!”
Tom, from Blackburn
“It was… pretty good, overall! There are some tasty riffs in there and lots of shredding. It shows a lot more of the newer sides of Trivium, but with some good chunks of older stuff in there too. I’ll definitely need more listens to really get to grips with it but then I always do, especially if I’m trying to give a comprehensive view. The album has so many different atmospheres and vibes that its hard to know exactly how you’re feeling, but I’d definitely say the album is right up there with the better things Trivium have done. I’d still say 8 or 9 out of 10 on first listen.”
Howie, from Lincoln
“It was a bit of a trip to get here, but I’d say it was definitely worth it. I really, really enjoyed the album! I’ve brought every album Trivium have released and this is immediately one of my favourites, for sure. I just thought it was wicked, absolutely great and we’re going to get our money’s worth.”
Sam, from Stafford
“In The Court Of The Dragon is a continuation of Trivium’s winning streak, for sure. It’s absolutely flawless. It feels like a sister album to What The Dead Men Say, or at least that’s how I feel about it personally. Quality-wise, its every bit as good as the last three records they released and I’ve got no doubts about that.”
Rob, from Birmingham
“My favourite Trivium album is Shogun, but it’s been so great to have Trivium building on the foundations they built with the last couple of albums. With The Sin And The Sentence they found the basics of what they want to do these days and they then built on that with What The Dead Men Say, but now they’re going bigger and better on In The Court Of The Dragon. For me, Trivium have been a band characterised by their career trajectory from album to album, going up and down a bit. To see them hit a run of form and do things that are unprecedented in their career is incredible to see.”
Vicky and Chris Cauldron, from Birmingham
Vicky: “That closing song was fucking fantastic! Could we just play that again, five times over?”
Chris: “We’ve been fans of Trivium since the early years – the really early years! When they first started out they played a show here in Birmingham at The Barfly, under the name Ember To Inferno. We went to that.”
Vicky: “I hope this is their break into… I don’t want to say ‘the big time’, because it does them a disservice to say they aren’t this fantastic huge thing in metal, but they deserve to be recognised a lot more for it. As a fan, it's something I’ve really wanted for them for a very long time. They deserve to be as big as Metallica and Iron Maiden.”
Chris: “There are quite a few metal acts that are ready to do those main stage headline spots at Download. Unfortunately we need the old boys out the way first…”
Vicky: “We love the old boys, but they are the old boys you know?”
Chris: “Trivium could easily slot into doing that, I think.”
Vicky: “They shouldn’t be headlining second stage at Download: they deserve to be headlining main. I absolutely love Trivium and I’m happy the new record has some bits of Shogun in there; it's super-epic, with a lot of feelsy stuff without becoming too cheesy. It’s a bit wanky, but there’s a sense of art to it more than just something put together for radio. It’s really cool that there’s a song on this album that was originally written during Shogun – I think it shows.”
Josh, from Chester
“I was pleasantly surprised by In The Court Of The Dragon. Over the years, Trivium have been hit and miss and I think most people would agree with that. The last couple albums – The Sin And The Sentence and What The Dead Men Say – have been absolutely stellar though and this feels like even more of a step-up from that. It feels like they’ve taken a lot of the Shogun-style riffs and proggy style, while going back to the youthful vigour they had on Ascendancy and combined it with those last couple records.
They’ve really pulled it off! When In The Court Of The Dragon was released I think a lot of people realised ‘Holy shit! Trivium are really, really solid’, even if Holy Fire made the ground a bit shakier for a bit. I didn’t worry too much though; knowing those mis-steps means I know not to pin too much expectation on them, which is great because it's allowed them to solidify their position within the metal world. In The Court Of The Dragon absolutely bangs; it’s almost classic Trivium, but with everything they’ve learned over the years put into one package.”
In The Court Of The Dragon is out October 8 via Roadrunner
