Trivium - Struck Dead - EP Review

00:00:00.240 Trivia has a new EP coming out called
00:00:02.399 Struck Dead. It drops on Halloween
00:00:05.040 October 31st of this year. Let's wake up
00:00:07.279 the neighbors and talk all about it,
00:00:08.639 Derek.
00:00:13.679 Yeah, let's do this. So, we got our
00:00:16.239 hands on this three song Juggernaut
00:00:19.279 monster extravaganza. It is a jackal and
00:00:23.680 hide experience. I think I think that's
00:00:26.320 a fair way to to put it. If you are an
00:00:29.119 old fan of Trivia, it is going to tickle
00:00:33.280 all the right places. And if you are a
00:00:35.680 fan of the newer Trivia stuff, I suspect
00:00:38.480 it will also make you quite happy. So,
00:00:42.239 um I think Mr. Heathy uh took some
00:00:44.480 notes, paid attention, took a took notes
00:00:47.360 as to what people are into, and combined
00:00:49.600 the two worlds.
00:00:50.559 Yeah, there's some there's some great
00:00:51.760 surprises on this record. Uh, bury me
00:00:53.680 with my screams. The signal single is
00:00:55.920 already out. So, that's a known quantity
00:00:58.079 now. But for me, I I said this when we
00:01:00.559 talked about it the last time. That's
00:01:02.399 top tier trivia. It's got great
00:01:04.319 production. It's great songwriting. Real
00:01:06.479 super riffy. Uh, it's got some nice
00:01:08.479 melodics. He's vocals are great. They're
00:01:11.119 really varied. You get some aggro
00:01:12.880 vocals. You get some nice clean stuff.
00:01:15.280 So, it uh it it like you said scratched
00:01:18.400 a lot of my itches, that one track. and
00:01:20.240 Alex Bent who's been with the well,
00:01:22.400 sorry, who was with the band for nine
00:01:25.040 years. His playing on these tracks is
00:01:27.520 phenomenal. It's so good and it's We'll
00:01:30.240 get into Alex later, but I'm I'm rather
00:01:32.720 disappointed that he's not going to be
00:01:34.799 around anymore.
00:01:35.840 Yeah, everything has its time and but
00:01:39.040 let's talk about the high water mark
00:01:40.880 that he left us. Uh we've talked a lot
00:01:43.200 about the fact that again bands are
00:01:46.159 returning this year to sound that is
00:01:49.840 familiar for fans and with struck dead
00:01:52.960 pain is easier to remember. my favorite
00:01:56.159 track. Very very fast gunfire
00:02:00.079 uh you know to a war within you know to
00:02:02.560 your ears. Uh massive singalong chorus
00:02:05.520 you know it's like holy jackal and hide
00:02:08.239 you know he goes from grunting and
00:02:10.878 groaning and growling his way through
00:02:13.200 the bridge of the track to this massive
00:02:16.319 singalong chorus and it's like holy
00:02:20.000 where's this trivia been over the last
00:02:22.640 you know decade. Yeah, that that one uh
00:02:25.840 stuck out to me, too. It starts off real
00:02:28.400 hard, real fast, and just a couple of
00:02:31.040 bars in, they make a a sort of tonal
00:02:34.400 shift in terms of, you know, the the
00:02:36.319 chords they're using in the it switches
00:02:38.560 to almost like an uplifting or hopeful
00:02:41.519 feel for a couple of bars. And it's it's
00:02:44.319 a great contrast to the dark start to
00:02:46.720 the track. and it bounces back and forth
00:02:48.400 as you said and Alex's again Alex's
00:02:51.680 monster drums provide this this
00:02:54.160 fantastic counter point to the to the
00:02:56.879 riffs that these guys are coming up
00:02:58.879 with. Um it's it's a really great
00:03:01.440 formula and one that uh I hope carries
00:03:04.080 on down you know whatever the future is
00:03:06.560 for Trivia.
00:03:07.440 One second Heath he sounds like a demon
00:03:09.200 on the track and the next he sounds like
00:03:11.040 a optimistic saint. And again, nothing
00:03:14.720 has, and this isn't to say that Trivia's
00:03:17.040 music over the last decade hasn't been
00:03:19.200 good. I just felt like Ascendancy and
00:03:21.519 The Crusade were just so good that
00:03:24.319 everything after that has been kind of,
00:03:26.239 yeah, it's okay. It's good. It's It's
00:03:28.080 trivial, but it wasn't those records.
00:03:30.319 These three songs for me sit nicely with
00:03:34.080 the first two records. And again,
00:03:36.640 they're just the songwriting is a little
00:03:38.239 bit more ambitious than the first two
00:03:39.680 records. And the tradeoff between the
00:03:43.360 singalong choruses and then the demonic,
00:03:46.720 you know, grunting, groaning, and
00:03:48.400 growling his way through the bridges is
00:03:50.799 so disparit from each other that it
00:03:53.440 really, really works. Well, you know,
00:03:55.120 the metal core genre is some of the
00:03:57.439 hallmarks are that, you know, chuggy, I
00:04:00.480 don't want to say traditional metal, but
00:04:02.000 metal broken up by very melodic, like
00:04:04.720 you said, sing along choruses. And while
00:04:07.200 I would never consider, and people may
00:04:10.080 argue this point, please throw it in the
00:04:11.599 comments if you feel differently. I
00:04:13.840 wouldn't put trivia in a metal core
00:04:15.760 genre or, you know, if anything, trivia
00:04:18.560 makes up a subgenre within metal core
00:04:21.199 for, you know, real badass stuff. But
00:04:23.919 they, like I said, that formula works
00:04:26.000 for them and it's on display here in
00:04:28.240 these in these three tracks. What's
00:04:30.240 funny about Trivia is the algorithm
00:04:32.560 spits out Killsw switch engage one
00:04:34.479 second for them and then Suicide Silence
00:04:37.199 as another recommended band to listen
00:04:40.400 to. And those are two very different
00:04:42.240 bands. And I would say Trivia does kind
00:04:44.560 of fall a little bit in between there.
00:04:47.280 The bridges of the songs, Heathi sounds
00:04:49.360 like he could be singing with Suicide
00:04:51.360 Silence and then the next second, you
00:04:53.520 know, during the choruses, he probably
00:04:55.440 could slide into Kill Switch Engage, no
00:04:57.440 problem. And so it's a it's a really
00:04:59.520 great contrast. And the track as a
00:05:03.040 whole, there's a great whirling guitar
00:05:05.120 solo. It's just an allout assault to the
00:05:08.240 fretboard on this track. And I love the
00:05:11.039 guitar solos and the guitar work on the
00:05:13.440 second half of the track.
00:05:14.639 Yeah, it's as close to top tier as as
00:05:16.639 you can get. I mean, it it's really
00:05:18.080 great. The third track, Six Walls
00:05:20.639 Surround Me, is another just banger of a
00:05:24.400 track. I really wanted more than just
00:05:26.880 three songs on this EP. I found myself
00:05:30.240 just immediately like, I got no I want
00:05:32.080 to go back to or go on to track four and
00:05:35.199 there is no track four. So, it's a it's
00:05:37.680 a big tease, but it's a great tease.
00:05:40.320 I'll give you that.
00:05:41.520 Yeah, it's 17 minutes plus of just for
00:05:44.320 me it was pure joy. And
00:05:46.400 I love the classic acoustic guitar that
00:05:49.520 was at the beginning of Six Walls
00:05:51.280 Surround Me.
00:05:52.400 Just so talented. Again, Testament did
00:05:54.560 that on Parabellum. Uh they're doing it
00:05:57.759 here. It just sounds great. And then the
00:06:00.560 bridge of the track is more of Heath's
00:06:02.720 gore and demonic, you know, venom
00:06:05.199 spitting, which is fantastic. You know,
00:06:08.000 he sounds like a full-on carnivore.
00:06:10.000 Like, it doesn't matter if it's human
00:06:11.919 bodies or dogs or whales or whatever,
00:06:15.039 he's going to eat it during the bridge
00:06:17.280 of this track. zombie- like, you know,
00:06:19.440 and then the chorus kicks in and flies.
00:06:23.360 It's just this big sound again that
00:06:26.800 Stadium would love to sing along to.
00:06:28.880 Yeah, no doubt. If if you're a fan of
00:06:30.400 the melodic vocals that this this song,
00:06:32.639 Six Walls Surround Me, is definitely
00:06:34.400 going to land well with you. I like it
00:06:36.639 for a lot of reasons, not the least of
00:06:38.160 which is they do some cool odd time
00:06:40.319 signature stuff throughout the track.
00:06:42.880 There is a middle break that is so so
00:06:47.280 cool. It's kind of like I referenced
00:06:49.600 this a few episodes back. It's kind of
00:06:51.919 like metal disco. And I don't I I again
00:06:55.600 we're fortunate to have heard this
00:06:57.199 before it gets released next week. So I
00:06:59.919 don't want to dissuade anybody from
00:07:01.759 listening to it by calling this break a
00:07:03.840 metal disco break, but it is just the
00:07:06.560 coolest. It's got this great feel and
00:07:09.360 and pattern to it. not overly intricate,
00:07:13.199 but super effective, super powerful. It
00:07:16.240 doesn't take over the whole song, but it
00:07:18.479 sits really nicely as a stop along the
00:07:21.599 musical journey of the song. Um, and
00:07:24.960 it's another opportunity. It's another
00:07:26.800 opportunity for Alex Bent to really
00:07:29.919 showcase his great flourish ability. you
00:07:33.520 know, he he's a great timekeeper in the
00:07:35.599 sense that yes, you know, he can write
00:07:37.440 great drum parts along with the guitar
00:07:40.000 parts that have already been written,
00:07:41.680 but he is very very talented at throwing
00:07:44.319 in these great little little
00:07:46.479 punctuations throughout that contrast
00:07:49.840 with what's happening with the rest of
00:07:51.280 the song. You know, if you want to I'll
00:07:52.960 make a non genre or non musical style
00:07:56.800 comparison here. Alex Bent is like the
00:07:59.840 John Densmore of this era. John Densore
00:08:03.199 was the drummer for the Doors. And you
00:08:04.639 can listen to their stuff. And Densore
00:08:06.800 would punctuate around the drum kit
00:08:09.280 after Jim Morrison would would spit out
00:08:11.840 some vocals. And Alex does the same
00:08:14.319 thing here in a in a really strong metal
00:08:16.960 style. And he's such a great drummer.
00:08:18.720 And I'm so bummed that he's not going to
00:08:20.080 be around anymore. Not to keep bringing
00:08:21.840 it up, but it's news. If you're into
00:08:23.280 trivia, the drummer leaving is kind of a
00:08:25.360 big deal. He's been a mainstay for eight
00:08:27.440 or nine years now. The guy that they've
00:08:29.280 got coming in to replace him at least
00:08:32.320 for tour is uh Grayson New uh Newman
00:08:37.839 Croitman. Um played with suicidal
00:08:40.479 tendencies suppleur so I mean he is
00:08:42.479 definitely a tested and great drummer
00:08:44.480 who's got tons of chops and I'm sure
00:08:46.480 he'll he'll do very well but it's just a
00:08:49.920 big question mark. Bent leaving the band
00:08:51.839 is a big mystery to any of us who are
00:08:55.120 have any interest in this sort of thing.
00:08:57.040 Well, all I know is you better go see
00:08:59.040 them live and they are from Orlando, so
00:09:02.480 usually their tours are going to hit
00:09:04.880 Florida and you can go and judge. One
00:09:07.279 more note on six walls surround me. Yes,
00:09:09.920 it sounds again like to me the crusade
00:09:12.880 songs like ignition and detonation. The
00:09:15.200 difference is the songwriting is just
00:09:16.720 better because they've had years of
00:09:18.560 experience, but it had and the
00:09:20.160 production quality is also way better.
00:09:22.720 And I'm curious, what is your take on
00:09:24.399 production on the record? It's really,
00:09:26.399 really strong. It was mixed and mastered
00:09:28.720 by Josh Wilbur. And Josh has worked with
00:09:32.160 a ton of high-end bands. And I've got
00:09:34.720 just a few here to I can run down. Two
00:09:37.200 albums with Korn, The Serenity of the
00:09:39.040 Suffering, and The Nothing. Lamb of
00:09:41.040 Gods, Wrath, Resolution, Seven, Lamb of
00:09:43.760 God, and Omens, Mega Death, Dystopia of
00:09:46.000 the Sick, The Dying, and the Dead.
00:09:47.360 Trivia, of course, a bunch of albums
00:09:49.040 there. Gojira, Bench, Sevenfold, Parkway
00:09:51.680 Drive, A Day to Remember, Hate Breed,
00:09:53.120 Killer Be Killed, Motionless and White,
00:09:54.800 The Dillinger Escape Plan. So, this guy
00:09:57.120 as a producer and an engineer is top
00:10:01.360 level, too. And that is all over these
00:10:03.920 tracks. It's really clean. It's punchy
00:10:06.480 where it needs to be. It's smooth where
00:10:08.399 it needs to be. Again, I hate to say top
00:10:11.120 tier again and again and again, but I
00:10:12.720 think it's accurate. It's an extremely
00:10:14.480 well done EP. My biggest complaint with
00:10:16.800 it is that there's just not more of it.
00:10:18.800 Yeah, it it would have definitely been a
00:10:20.480 top 10 for me. It feels like they just
00:10:22.800 took the top three songs that they had
00:10:25.040 written and just put them on an EP and
00:10:26.800 was like, let's just show off and knock
00:10:28.640 everybody's socks off and then add all
00:10:30.720 three songs to our set list, which you
00:10:32.800 can't go wrong with it. And so for fans
00:10:35.120 of Trivia, you're going to be happy.
00:10:36.640 You're going to love it. If you're not a
00:10:38.079 fan of Trivia, listen to it. Seriously.
00:10:40.240 Yeah. Yeah. The EP coincides with the
00:10:42.480 start of their North American tour. So,
00:10:44.720 they will be on the road soon. No doubt
00:10:46.640 coming to a city right near you or to
00:10:48.880 nowhere near you.
00:10:49.839 Yeah. And also, you know, the artwork on
00:10:51.920 it is absolutely fantastic. And that's
00:10:53.680 one thing that I I really appreciate
00:10:55.519 about the band is all of their artwork
00:10:57.200 has always been very very creative and
00:10:59.920 it's
00:11:00.399 you are you're you're an album cover guy
00:11:02.320 for sure.
00:11:03.040 I do. I like holding, you know, I've got
00:11:05.200 my vinyl back here. I don't have a ton
00:11:07.120 of vinyl. A lot of it's old. Like I've
00:11:09.200 got old Mly Crew, Shout the Devil. It's
00:11:11.200 the only MLY crew I have. But I like it.
00:11:13.440 I like the hysteria de leopard album.
00:11:16.079 I've got tons of Max Cavalera, tons of
00:11:18.320 Slayer, tons of Typo Negative obviously,
00:11:21.040 but I like looking at a cool cover and
00:11:24.000 artwork, especially on vinyl. But yeah,
00:11:26.240 this is something I would definitely I I
00:11:28.000 probably will pick up on vinyl just
00:11:29.600 because the artwork's cool, the three
00:11:31.519 songs are great, and I'm sure that even
00:11:33.760 the inside packaging will be absolutely
00:11:36.000 fantastic as well.
00:11:36.880 Well, you know, you and I came up in an
00:11:38.480 era where music was physical. You had to
00:11:40.640 go buy it. The only other place you were
00:11:42.560 getting it was on the radio and you were
00:11:44.480 rarely going to hear rarely if ever
00:11:46.160 going to hear an entire album. So if you
00:11:48.160 wanted it, you went and bought it. And
00:11:50.079 some of the nostalgia is, you know,
00:11:52.000 those memories of going to the record
00:11:53.600 store and flipping through the vinyl or
00:11:56.640 even getting the cassettes or CDs,
00:11:58.480 bringing them home and hoping that the
00:12:00.959 inside like folded out and folded out
00:12:02.959 and folded out so it wasn't just a
00:12:04.720 single fold.
00:12:05.760 Yeah.
00:12:06.079 And we don't get that unless you buy
00:12:08.160 vinyl. And frankly, if you really want
00:12:10.639 to support a band these days, buy the
00:12:12.639 vinyl. Yes, buy the merch and go see
00:12:14.480 them on tour and all that, but they're
00:12:16.160 not making money by their music, their
00:12:19.279 artwork being on Spotify and on
00:12:21.519 streaming. They just they don't get
00:12:23.200 paid. They get next to nothing. They get
00:12:25.200 paid, but it's very, very little. An
00:12:27.279 artist isn't going to support themselves
00:12:28.800 just by streaming. They a sizable chunk
00:12:32.079 of a band or a musician's income is
00:12:35.120 based on physical product. So, if you
00:12:37.440 want to support your favorite band, buy
00:12:39.519 their vinyl, buy their merch.
00:12:41.760 Yeah. I remember going to Tracks on Wax
00:12:44.720 on in Northport, Long Island as a kid,
00:12:47.200 seeing my grandparents, my uncles, and
00:12:48.959 my aunts and going down there and
00:12:51.120 looking at physical, you know, tapes and
00:12:54.399 then CDs. And obviously vinyl was still
00:12:57.120 a part of that experience there all
00:12:59.920 throughout my, you know, my childhood.
00:13:02.240 And then when I was back in Vermont, I
00:13:04.320 would go to the Dartmouth bookstore at
00:13:06.320 Dartmouth College in Hanover, New
00:13:07.760 Hampshire. And they had a whole basement
00:13:09.839 full. And again, they had tapes, they
00:13:13.200 had records, and then eventually CDs,
00:13:16.720 but vinyl was always part of it. And
00:13:18.399 then upstairs, they had comic books. So
00:13:20.399 it was like, you know, can't lose.
00:13:23.760 It was Yeah, it was my mecca. And I
00:13:25.519 would go and I'd work at Ben and Jerry's
00:13:27.760 and then you know and then or work at
00:13:30.399 Stinson's store and uh don't tell
00:13:32.560 anybody but my grandfather worked there
00:13:34.240 and he'd be like the beers in the beer
00:13:36.240 cooler that dense they need to be taste
00:13:37.839 tested. And I'm like and I'm 13 years
00:13:39.839 old doing that getting half in the bag
00:13:41.839 and then taking my whole paycheck over
00:13:43.200 to the Dartmouth bookstore and buying
00:13:45.279 comics and vinyl. But yeah, we we grew
00:13:48.160 up in a great time. It was it was
00:13:50.000 awesome. And I again it just goes back
00:13:51.839 to holding physical cool things with
00:13:54.720 great artwork.
00:13:55.519 Yeah. So to loop that back around, this
00:13:57.279 is vinyl that you'll be buying if it uh
00:13:59.199 if it's offered.
00:14:00.160 Yeah, I I will look and see on Friday
00:14:02.320 when it comes out and see if it's
00:14:03.760 available. Haven't looked yet to see if
00:14:05.519 it's pre-orderable. Pre-orderable, is
00:14:08.000 that a word? It is now. I will c Yeah, I
00:14:10.240 will certainly do it.
00:14:11.279 I I there's not a whole lot more to say
00:14:13.199 other than you if you like Trivia even a
00:14:16.320 little, you're probably going to love
00:14:17.360 this EP. I've had it on repeat and I'm
00:14:20.000 so grateful that we have the opportunity
00:14:21.680 to get some of this stuff early. Um
00:14:25.279 because I've just it's been non-stop for
00:14:27.440 the last week or so. It's such great
00:14:29.680 stuff. I would love to put snippets of
00:14:32.560 all these songs in here, but we can't.
00:14:34.880 YouTube one, YouTube doesn't like
00:14:36.399 copyrighted material, and two, it's not
00:14:38.880 released yet, so we certainly can't do
00:14:41.360 that. But, uh if if you're if you're
00:14:43.440 excited about the album, throw a comment
00:14:45.120 down below, throw a thumbs up on the
00:14:46.880 video. We appreciate everybody who
00:14:49.120 subscribes to the channel. It's helping
00:14:50.560 us grow, so thank you for that. But
00:14:53.120 yeah, let us know what you think about
00:14:54.320 trivia. Are you excited to hear it? Do
00:14:56.160 you uh what's your take on the Alex Bent
00:14:58.480 thing? I'm I'm curious to hear what
00:14:59.680 people think about that, too. So, drop
00:15:01.680 those comments as well.
00:15:03.120 I am curious what uh because I think we
00:15:05.360 have enough of a following now. If there
00:15:07.440 is anything any bands that you're
00:15:09.920 passionate about, it doesn't have to be
00:15:11.279 an established band. It could be an
00:15:12.639 underground band.
00:15:14.000 local to you that you think is awesome.
00:15:16.959 Send it. You know, we'll gladly review
00:15:20.079 it. We'll gladly interview the band if
00:15:23.120 you know, again, we really just do this
00:15:25.279 if we really like the music.
00:15:27.440 Yeah,
00:15:27.839 that's that's generally the rule of
00:15:29.680 thumb for us is if we if we can't get
00:15:31.680 into it, we probably won't. But that's
00:15:33.360 not to say if there's a great story
00:15:35.519 behind the band or they're an
00:15:37.360 upandcomer, whatever it is, send it our
00:15:39.839 way. We will listen to it. We listen
00:15:42.160 everything that the record labels send
00:15:43.920 to us and give everything a fair shake.
00:15:46.639 We just kind of post whatever suits our
00:15:48.959 fancy and and that we get into.
00:15:50.959 Well, that unfortunately we just don't
00:15:52.320 have enough time to hit all the stuff
00:15:54.399 that we want to hit.
00:15:55.839 Yeah. Yeah. We have real jobs and I have
00:15:57.839 kids and you know I've got 8 million
00:16:00.399 pets as well and
00:16:02.160 you know to the point that we don't get
00:16:04.079 to get to listen much less review
00:16:06.800 everything. We have to throw a shout out
00:16:08.720 to our friend Dan Lorenzo and Johnny
00:16:10.880 Kelly and all the the guys in Patriarchs
00:16:13.279 and Black. They had an album drop a
00:16:15.199 while ago. We have not had a chance to
00:16:16.880 get it uh you know get it under our belt
00:16:18.959 yet. And Johnny Johnny and Dan they are
00:16:21.839 friends of the podcast. They're great
00:16:24.000 guys come up with great music and we
00:16:26.480 have been remissed in not getting uh not
00:16:28.959 getting their you know any press out for
00:16:30.959 their latest record. So we we will have
00:16:32.720 to do that here sooner than later
00:16:34.079 because they are good guys and they they
00:16:35.680 do they do good work. Yeah. And and I I
00:16:38.000 I blame Dan because he he I think I had
00:16:40.959 said once he rolls out of bed and jizzes
00:16:43.040 riffs, you know, it's like Yeah. I think
00:16:46.720 I think Johnny said, "What is this a sis
00:16:49.680 commercial, you know, or hims commercial
00:16:51.839 or whatever." But, you know, the dude
00:16:54.000 really does he has said that he wakes up
00:16:56.720 in the middle of the night with a riff
00:16:58.160 in his head and we'll and we'll get out
00:17:00.000 of bed, jot it down, record it, and he
00:17:03.839 does. He's constantly living, breathing,
00:17:06.799 you know, black sabbathy
00:17:09.439 metal. And, you know, again, he gets mad
00:17:11.520 that I call it rock and roll, but there
00:17:13.280 is, you know, there's a a little bit of
00:17:15.039 Led Zeppelin in there, a little bit of
00:17:16.640 Kiss, a little bit of everything, not
00:17:18.959 just metal with what they do. And um,
00:17:21.199 but they are great guys, and we
00:17:22.559 apologize, Dan and Johnny, for just not
00:17:25.520 having the time.
00:17:26.400 Yeah, Dan, get ready. We're coming for
00:17:28.000 you, buddy.
00:17:29.360 All right. Well, good stuff, man.
00:17:31.520 Yeah. Struck dead. Struck us dead. and
00:17:34.000 we like it. So, trivia on Friday. Make
00:17:36.160 sure you get it on Halloween the first
00:17:38.400 uh get uh you know, put on your whatever
00:17:40.960 suit you're wearing. I'll be wearing a
00:17:42.640 Frankenstein outfit and scaring the heck
00:17:44.960 out of children uh who are coming for uh
00:17:47.919 goodies and I'm looking forward to it.
00:17:50.799 But I will be listening to uh uh Struck
00:17:53.440 Dead while you know wearing some ear
00:17:56.080 pods while I'm Frankenstein.
00:17:58.400 Nice. Happy Halloween.
00:18:00.320 Yeah, you too. We will see we will see
00:18:01.919 you guys on the next one.
00:18:06.750 [Music]