Trivium Talk New Album ‘Vengeance Falls,’ Touring, Eating Healthy + More

Trivium have been making waves with the release of their new album ‘Vengeance Falls.’ The disc marks the band’s first time working with Disturbed / Device frontman Dave Draiman as their producer, and fans have been reacting positively to new songs like ‘Brave This Storm’ and the lead single ‘Strife.’

Loudwire had the opportunity to speak with frontman Matt Heafy and bassist Paolo Gregoletto about recording the new disc, as well as some of their favorite new tracks. They also chatted about touring with DevilDriver and some very unique items on their tour bus.

What can we hear about who the both of you are as musicians today on ‘Vengeance Falls’?

Matt Heafy: It’s comprised itself of the best ingredients of the first five albums and then making new songs on top of that platform.

Paolo Gregoletto: It really is the best of what we’ve been doing. When we write, we just start writing and let the riffs come naturally, all the parts and song structures. Matt writes a lot of lyrics and this time we went in and the big difference was the pre-production. We didn’t go in so rehearsed to the point where we didn’t want to cut anything and that was amazing because it left so many options. We made some of the best changes to the songs in pre-production because we were coming up with stuff on the spot.

Being bandmates for so long, did you notice anything surprising about each other or the other members while recording this new disc?

PG: I think since this is Nick’s [Augusto] second album with us, he made a huge improvement. He did amazing on ‘In Waves’ but to see how he’s grown as a drummer on recording and even live, he was a lot more comfortable in his own skin playing with Trivium now. I think he’s found his style within the band whereas when he first came in, coming from really extreme music, his mind was going 200 miles an hour. Now he really thinks musically with how he writes his drum parts. We did the drums fast, we did it in two parts but combined it was only about five days total. He’s really stepped up as a player and really contributed to this record being so solid.

MH: He’s really created his signature sound on the album; it really sounds like Nick playing, which is great.

What was the recording process like for 'Vengeance Falls'?

MH: What’s amazing about this record is that the four of us, the engineer, David [Draiman] and his wife, his dogs were all living under the same roof. We basically just had to wake up, walk downstairs and walk into the studio. It was all within the same property versus waking up in apartments and driving to the studio.

Even when we were able to live at home with ‘In Waves,’ as fantastic as that was, it was still going into a studio environment. It was nice to live in the studio and creating, we were all always there. When we weren’t being professional and working our asses off, we were usually laughing about something stupid or eating something awesome or playing with the dogs. David has amazing dogs.

Some standout tracks off the new album are’ Strife,’ ‘No Way to Heal’ and ‘Through Blood and Dirt and Bone.' What would you say is a current favorite new track of yours?

PG: It’s tough because it constantly rotates. I’ll listen to one song and then I’ll be more in the mood to hear something like ‘Incineration’ or ‘Wake.’ I like a song like ‘Strife’ because it’s just more straightforward but the melodies and vocals, everything’s just really undeniable. You want to keep repeating it. It’s got something that really hooks you in. It’s a good problem to have because it’s hard for me to really answer, it changes every day. I’d say ‘No Way to Heal,’ ‘Incineration’ ‘Vengeance Falls’ and ‘Strife’ are ones that rotate for the top spot.

MH: For me currently it’s ‘Through Blood and Dirt and Bone,’ ‘Wake (The End is Nigh)’ and ‘Incineration: The Broken World.’ Those are my current favorites, it rotates as well but interestingly I keep seeing a constant between the four of us. All of us really are really into ‘Through Blood and Dirt and Bone’ and ‘Incineration’ and ‘Wake.’ I don’t know why that is, but we’re happy with it.

How has it been with touring with DevilDriver in support of the new record?

MH: We had what was probably one of the best North American headlining, co-headlining, club show of our entire career in Montreal. It was the best crowd, they sang guitar parts, they were so crazy. At one point, I guess something happened and the security guards had to go take care of something and crowd surfers started coming but there were no security guards.

I was yelling for security guards and people just had to run out there and help. Luckily no one was getting hurt, I would stop if someone was getting hurt. It was just pretty chaotic, that moment when you think at any moment this thing could turn into a riot.

The chemistry between all the bands on tour was awesome, it’s just a bummer what happened to Sylosis with the accident. It looks like everyone’s doing okay. All of our thoughts go with those guys. We just keep pushing our fans to check them out and support them by picking up their record. Everyone is awesome, I think we’ve toured with DevilDriver 10 times now. [Laughs]

What would you guys say is currently the weirdest thing on the Trivium tour bus?

MH: I think it would be how damn healthy our bus is.

PG: Yeah that’s the thing everyone sees, it kinda looks like a Whole Foods inside.

MH: We have Kombucha, apple cider vinegar, organic honey and peanut butter.

PG: The latest is Ezekiel bread, it’s so un-metal but it’s good man.

MH: You got to eat well and fuel your body right. Dudes that are eating like 16-year-old boys, that’s not any way to perform at your finest.

PG: There are a lot of Tostitos though. At night, there are nacho monsters who eat everything. We went to bed one night, woke up and all the rice was gone, all the tuna was gone.

MH: We’re dudes that don’t really stay up on a show day, we have a couple guys that don’t drink or do anything but they still hang. Me and Paolo we don’t drink if there’s a show the next day but yeah the stoners eat the food out pretty quick. But they’re eating really healthy, just a lot of it. [Laughs]

Watch Trivium's 'Vengeance Falls' Video