Trivium will release their eleventh studio album, Crown in the Grave, on November 20 through Roadrunner Records. The band have also unveiled the album’s title track and an accompanying music video ahead of their North American headline tour, which stops in Toronto on November 18.
The Florida metal band, featuring vocalist and guitarist Matthew K. Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto and drummer Alex Rüdinger, are preparing to enter their next chapter with a 12-track album that combines their established sound with a darker atmosphere inspired by Japanese cinema.
The title track builds from layered riffs into a heavier, more aggressive arrangement, combining intricate guitar work, melodic passages, powerful solos and the multi-layered vocal approach that has defined Trivium throughout their career.
The lyrics to “Crown in the Grave” explore ambition, temptation and the consequences of choices that cannot be undone. Lines about a crown ending up in the grave, blood on one’s hands and a burning house paint a picture of a person consumed by the pursuit of power. The repeated questions about choosing a side, risking everything and facing life or death add to the sense of an approaching reckoning. These themes connect with the album’s inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood, which examines ambition, fate and a man’s eventual downfall.
The accompanying music video, directed by Pavel Trebukhin, draws inspiration from Japanese Noh theatre and features a post-apocalyptic setting. The visuals depict characters preparing for an impending confrontation inside a smoke-filled dojo, reflecting the band’s longstanding interest in Japanese theatre, cinema and martial arts.
Trivium Look to Evolve Without Losing Their Identity
For Trivium, the new album represents an opportunity to build on more than two decades of experience without simply repeating what they have done before.
“Crown In The Grave is our eleventh record, and when you get this far into a career, it’s easy to rest on what you’ve already done — or to reinvent yourself just for the sake of it,” Gregoletto explains.
“With this record, we wanted to find the space between those two things: Take everything we’ve learned and everything that makes Trivium what it is, but present it in ways we hadn’t before.”
The album’s concept began with the title track, which draws inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 film Throne of Blood, a Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The film’s exploration of ambition, fate and downfall helped establish the darker direction that would shape the record.
Gregoletto says the band subsequently explored Japanese horror and films from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, developing a ghostly atmosphere that influenced the music, lyrics, artwork and overall identity of the album.
The bassist also credits the band’s own creative environment with giving them the time to work through what their eleventh record should sound like.
“We built our studio so we could give ourselves the time and space to figure out exactly what an eleventh Trivium record should be, and Crown In The Grave is the answer we arrived at,” he says. “It honors where we’ve been without living in the past, and pushes into new territory without abandoning what makes us Trivium. I think when you hear it, it’ll somehow feel both new and like a return.”
Matt Heafy Embraces a Different Approach
The recording process also coincided with a period of personal change for Heafy, who describes confronting mental health struggles, physical injuries and anxiety that had affected his relationship with performing.
“Facing yourself is the final quest,” Heafy says. “We had to do it as a band, and I had to do it in my personal life. I freed my mind from the constraints of being worried. I made a decision to just sing.”
Heafy explains that seeking therapy, finding an appropriate medication regimen and changing his mindset helped him move away from the pressure of trying to deliver a perfect performance every time.
“I cleared the plate,” the frontman says. “I stopped trying to be safe and perfect at every show. Instead, I was actually enjoying the experience and living. If I messed up, it was okay because I’m human. With all of the changes Trivium went through, it’s like a brand new band.”
Alex Rüdinger Makes His Studio Debut With Trivium
Crown in the Grave is the band’s first full-length album recorded at their own creative space, The Hangar, in Orlando, Florida. It also marks Rüdinger’s first studio album with Trivium after officially joining the group.
The drummer had nearly joined the band in 2015 before choosing to pursue other opportunities. Ten years later, the timing finally worked out.
“It happened when it was meant to,” Heafy says. “Rüdi didn’t just kill it on the drums; his contributions as a writer made a huge difference.”
Trivium reunited with longtime producer Josh Wilbur, known for his work with Korn and Lamb of God, while Jacob Hansen, whose credits include Volbeat and Amorphis, handled the mixing.
The band also focused on writing memorable riffs and choruses, drawing inspiration from influential 1990s albums.
“We took all of the elements of Trivium, honed in on them, and focused on writing songs with big riffs and big hooks,” Beaulieu says. “We made the record we’d been dying to make.”
Gregoletto points to Metallica’s The Black Album, Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction and Soundgarden’s Superunknown as examples of records where strong choruses and relatable songs play a central role.
That balance between heaviness, melody and memorable songwriting remains an important part of Trivium’s approach as they look toward the release of their eleventh album.
Crown in the Grave Track Listing
The album features 12 tracks:
- “Jorōgumo”
- “Crown in the Grave”
- “Dead Inside of Me”
- “The Terror”
- “The Haunting Never Ends”
- “Lie of It All”
- “Blackout the Dawn”
- “Paradise of Sinners”
- “Death Throes”
- “The Agony”
- “Devour Your Dreams”
- “Serpent in the Flame”
The album is scheduled for release on November 20 through Roadrunner Records. Fans can pre-order Crown in the Grave here.
Trivium Announce North American Tour With In Flames
Trivium will support the album with an extensive North American headline tour beginning November 5 in St. Petersburg, Florida, and concluding December 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The lineup features Swedish metal band In Flames, Orbit Culture, Fit for an Autopsy and Frozen Soul, making the tour a major run for fans of modern heavy music.
The band previously described the tour as an opportunity to begin this next phase with Rüdinger behind the kit while giving audiences a taste of the new material.
Canadian fans will have two opportunities to catch the tour, with shows scheduled for Laval, Quebec, on November 17 and Toronto on November 18 at GCT Theatre.
Trivium North American Tour Dates
With In Flames, Orbit Culture, Fit for an Autopsy and Frozen Soul
- November 5 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
- November 6 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
- November 7 – Louisville, KY – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall
- November 8 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
- November 10 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
- November 11 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
- November 12 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
- November 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
- November 15 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
- November 17 – Laval, QC – Place Bell
- November 18 – Toronto, ON – GCT Theatre
- November 20 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
- November 21 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
- November 22 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee
- November 24 – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
- November 25 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory at The District
- November 27 – San Antonio, TX – Boeing Center at Tech Port
- November 28 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
- November 29 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
- December 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre
- December 3 – Las Vegas, NV – The Pearl
- December 4 – Inglewood, CA – YouTube Theater
- December 5 – San Francisco, CA – The Masonic
- December 7 – Penticton, BC – Penticton Trade & Convention Centre
- December 8 – Vancouver, BC – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
- December 9 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
- December 11 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort, Grand Theatre
- December 13 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
- December 15 – Tulsa, OK – Tulsa Theatre
- December 16 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse
- December 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Citizens Live at The Wylie
- December 19 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
With Crown in the Grave, Trivium are looking to balance the sound that established their reputation with a darker creative direction and a renewed approach to songwriting. The album arrives November 20, with the North American tour kicking off earlier that month.
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