[Originally posted on Facebook: 10/20/2017]

So, time for another album review!

After a couple stinkers this year, I was starting to wonder if the bands I follow are just getting tired or out of creative juice, thankfully Trivium proved that they still have A LOT more to prove. This review is about their new album released today, “The Sin and the Sentence”.

Sweet baby Jesus!

Top 3:

• 1. Beyond Oblivion
• 2. The Revanchist
• 3. The Wretchedness Inside

Pros: Trivium has returned! There are so many good things about this album that I don’t know if I can get them all. The guys in Trivium have truly returned to form, and for the first time since Shogun, have a clear and concise goal and sound, and it’s just amazing to listen to. “Beyond Oblivion” and “The Revanchist” are two of the best songs they’ve ever made. Period. Across any album they’ve ever done.

Even though I do a Top 3, 95% of the album is outstanding, all killer no filler. I also particularly liked “The Wretchedness Inside” is also a nice change of pace, harkening back to their earlier Ember to Inferno days.

Bottom 3:

• 1. Betrayer
• 2. Other Worlds
• 3. N/A

Cons: Ironically, the heavier of the singles “Betrayer” ended up being one of my least liked songs. It’s not even really a bad song but it’s just considerably “weaker” than the rest of the album. In fact I really only had negative things to say about that and “Other Worlds”, which also was decent but again, compared with the album just doesn’t do as good. I don’t think the singles did this album any justice whatsoever. BUT, I’m glad the singles were what they were, because it made the rest of the album a treat.

OVERALL: 9.3 / 10

This album has something for every Trivium fan out there. Newer fans who came in through Silence in the Snow will appreciate stuff like “The Heart from Your Hate” and “Endless Night”, and older Trivium fans will appreciate literally everything else.

[New note: I have to knock the album up to like 9.6 or 9.8, Other Worlds has become just as loved. Really I could call this a perfect album because I can sit down and listen to it top to bottom without skipping anything, but Betrayer is still ok. I didn’t want to include it in the original review, but what puts this over as tied for being my favorite Trivium album ever, is the Japanese bonus track, “Pillars of Serpents ’17” which is a rerecording of an Ember to Inferno track of the same name. Sounds even better than the original.]