“What The Dead Men Say” from Trivium came out just as the whole world was going into lockdown or already was into lockdown in April, 2020.

Everything was stopped.

They could have delayed the release like so many other artists but they didn’t. It hit streaming services without a physical release.

The songs “Catastrophist” and “What The Dead Men Say” are in their top 5 most popular songs on Spotify.

But my favourite is “The Defiant”.

There are people who surround celebrities, CEO’s and leaders and they allow or enable these people to get away with things that they normally shouldn’t get away with.

In order to stop these people from doing something wrong, someone within their circle needs to break rank and stand for something.

Be the defiant person in between the innocent who are affected, and don’t worry that it’s going to affect your career.

Explicit deviance
Don’t have to hide
Display their wealth of sin
Right ‘fore our eyes

Complicit in ruin
Protect with lies
Defenestrate, destroy
Mock and victimize

People don’t speak out because they are afraid of what would happen if they do.

And if they do speak out, the powerful perpetrators and their enablers will do their best to make their life a living hell, via social media and whatever other means necessary.

I stand in defiance of your ways
(The defiant, the defiant)

Be the defiant one.

Because Trivium defied 2020 and thrived.

Vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy was an early adopter of Twitch, and even prior to the lockdown, he had built a community on Twitch for people to chill out while he practices songs, does covers, chats or plays computer games with em.

He is keeping in touch with his fan base and connecting with them. By doing this via Twitch, he also gets an income.

Stand and be defiant to the traditional money making avenues in the recording industry and make something different happen. There are ways.

You just need to think differently.

On top of that, apart from releasing an excellent Trivium album, he has a new EP out and he finally finished his Black Metal album with Ihsahn.

And if you want to read a fantastic track by track review, head over to the Music Radar website.