What The Living Reviewer Says

I meant to write this the other day, but things came up so I’m only now getting around to it. But hey, better late than never.

I’ve been looking forward to Trivium’s new album What The Dead Men Say for some time now, since I knew it was about time for the band to release a new album. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Trivium’s last few albums, so I had pretty high expectations for this album. And overall, I do enjoy the album a lot, but I don’t think it’s my favorite Trivium album.

“IX” is the opening instrumental song, similar to “Snøfall” from Silence In The Snow.  There’s not a whole lot to say about “IX,” but it’s a solid instrumental that definitely captures the feel of the album and leads perfectly into the first song of the album.

“What The Dead Men Say” was released as a single before the album dropped, and I remember listening to it a few times and thinking it was fine. I don’t think my opinion has changed a whole lot since then. “What The Dead Men Say” is a good song, and I especially like the verses, but it’s not a song that particularly stands out to me as something truly extraordinary. Still, I’d rather have a slew of decent songs mixed with some real standouts on an album as opposed to two or three really incredibly songs with the rest being awful. Nevertheless, “What The Dead Men Say” is still a pretty heavy song with some fantastic instrumentals.

“Catastrophist” was also released as a single before the album’s release, and again, I remember listening to it a few times and thinking it was decent, but again nothing insanely amazing. And again, my opinion hasn’t really changed. “Catastrophist” is still a decent song, but in my opinion it suffers from the same problems as “What The Dead Men Say.” In my opinion, neither of these two songs really stick with me. The instrumentals are still fantastic, but if anything, I may prefer the vocals in “What The Dead Men Say” to “Catastrophist,” though “Catastrophist” does still have some solid places here and there, especially in the last minute and a half or so.

“Amongst The Shadows & The Stones” is a solid song that I do like bit more than the previous songs. The song starts out heavy, and while some sections are quite melodic, this song does not let up and retains its heaviness throughout the majority of the song. While I haven’t listened a whole lot to Trivium’s earliest albums (I just checked out Shogun a few weeks ago), “Amongst The Shadows & The Stones” sounds like a return to this earlier style, at least in my opinion. And honestly, that’s not a bad thing; it definitely provides a shift from the previous two songs that seemed to maintain a balance between the heavy and melodic, instead favoring the heavy over the melodic.

“Bleed Into Me” was also released as a single before the album released, but I never listened to it. And frankly, I’m a little sad I didn’t because this is easily my favorite song on the album. Unlike “Amongst The Shadows & The Stones,” “Bleed Into Me favors the melodic over the heavy, and frankly I tend to prefer the melodic over the heavy. Because of this style, I really like “Bleed Into Me.”

“The Defiant” is a song that took me a few listens to before I could really appreciate it. “The Defiant” is a solid song that I do like, and it features a really strong mix of heavy and melodic elements, and I believe that both elements build off of each other and enhance the song as a whole. Towards the end, the song also has a great sections where it builds up before exploding, and I think this part sounds absolutely fantastic.

“Sickness Unto You” is another song that I needed to hear a few times before I really grew to like it. While the song itself has a rather melancholy meaning, it is not particularly apparent, except at the chorus. But overall, I find “Sickness Unto You” to feature another really good mix of heavy and melodic elements that I think may be even better than “The Defiant.” “Sickness Unto You” is definitely my second or third favorite song on the album, again because of its fantastic mix of styles, as well as its beautiful and relatable meaning. And just like with all of the other songs, the instrumentals are top notch and always push the song along at a breakneck pace.

“Scattering The Ashes,” like “Sickness Unto You,” is a pretty sad song, but this time I find it to be a lot more noticeable. Still, I really like this song, in part because I find it to be one of the most emotional songs on the entire album, like “Sickness Unto You.” “Scattering The Ashes” is very emotionally driven and conjures up vivid images that everyone knows and many have experienced. And while I may not have exactly experienced what the song recounts, I know that once I do, I will have a much greater appreciation for this beautiful song.

“Bending The Arc To Fear” might be the most forgettable song on the album in my opinion. I’ve listened through What The Dead Men Say a handful of times, but this song has yet to stick with me. And as I listen to the song as I write this review, I think I know why: it’s an average song. The reason I remember “Catastrophist” and “What The Dead Men Say” is because I’m not a huge fan of them, and I remember “Bleed Into Me,” “Sickness Unto You,” “Scattering The Ashes,” and “The Ones We Leave Behind” because I really like those songs. But “Bending The Arc To Fear” is a middle of the road song that I don’t really have issues with, so I don’t really remember it. Nevertheless, “Bending The Arc To Fear” is a decent song, and interestingly enough, it may actually feature some of my favorite instrumentals now that I listen more to the song (another issue could be that I simply never paid much attention to this song when I was listening through the album so I never connected the name with the music).

“The Ones We Leave Behind” is the final song on the album, and it’s another one that I really like. I really like the message of this song, in addition to it being more melodic than it is heavy. “The Ones We Leave Behind” definitely makes me think a bit about the questions that it raises, and I really appreciate that. One thing I love is when a song really makes me think about something, whether it be a new story idea or something in my own life, and “The Ones We Leave Behind” definitely accomplishes the latter. This song is also rather upbeat, which helps a bit since a few songs back things got kinda sad. Overall, “The Ones We Leave Behind” is a great song that brings this solid album to a conclusion.

The more I’ve listened to Trivium, the more I’ve realized that sometimes a band, song, or album takes a few listens before a solid opinion can be drawn about it. I think this is especially true of What The Dead Men Say. When I first listened to it, I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping it would be as good as, if not better than, The Sin And The Sentence, but this was not the case. However, it took me a few listens before I realized that What The Dead Men Say is still a really solid album with a lot of great songs. If you’re a fan of metal, I’d definitely recommend What The Dead Men Say, and if I had to rate it, I’d say it’s a solid 7/10 album.