TRIVIUM TACKLES INTOLERANCE

Trivium is currently on tour in support of their new album The Crusade, and aside from musical differences, the band has broadened its view, lyrically. Their last album Ascendancy featured the poignant “A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation,” which tackled domestic violence. One of the lyrical themes on The Crusade is intolerance.

Vocalist Matt Heafy talked about the inspiration for Gunshot which set the tone for Ascendancy.

“Yeah. The last record had that. Gunshot was between spousal abuse and child abuse a little bit back and forth. You know fortunately, we were all raised in really good families, and it’s something that we’re really lucky for and very thankful for and it’s something that not everybody has. So learning about the subject, I started college, for a little bit, and my research report was on child and spousal abuse and broken homes, etc, etc. So I learned about that stuff a lot. I wanted to reflect a song kind of coming from first and third person perspectives for people that have gone through that so they can realize that they’re not the only ones that can find solace in that, and that’s something I like to do occasionally with lyrics so people can connect with something and identify with it.”

Heafy then talked about exploring other subjects lyrically on The Crusade, including one timeless story about the controversial murder of a homosexual man.

“Yeah, and branching off on that last subject matter, from the last record on this new record we go off onto different lyrical concepts that maybe people aren’t aware of. Like, I wrote a song about the Matthew Sheppard story, which is something that did happen years ago, but it’s something that almost seems like… I remember a review, ‘Some of these stories are years old,’ but it’s like you need to keep the world aware that this did happen and keep that remembrance to make sure that stuff doesn’t happen again. The new album deals with society’s intolerance towards other groups, whether it’s sexism, racism, or homophobia.”

Trivium wrapped up a tour leg in support of The Crusade Sunday night (November 5) in Fort Worth, Texas. The band is working on more tour dates, but nothing has been announced at press time… We’ll keep you posted.