Matt Heafy is at a transitional level. Along with his band, Trivium, he’s not too long ago launched the EP Struck Lifeless and is within the technique of bringing aboard new drummer Alex Rüdinger whereas writing album quantity 11. Issues are additionally altering behind-the-scenes. Revered for years because the busiest man in metallic, Heafy is making an attempt to scale issues again.

“[Last year] I used to be doing 15 to twenty to 30 initiatives on the identical time,” the singer/guitarist says, speaking to Guitar.com throughout a down day on Trivium’s North American tour. “I used to be producing bands, I used to be managing bands; I used to be making all these completely different merchandise and making an attempt all these various things, like scoring video video games and scoring a film and beginning a pop-up restaurant.”

The plates that Heafy was spinning all smashed on the bottom when he had a self-described “metallic breakdowns/mid-life disaster” in 2024. Burnt out greater than he realised, his bandmates and family members staged an intervention, and he started to attend counselling and cognitive behavioural remedy.

“What we decided by way of remedy is that I’m naturally very low on serotonin,” says Heafy, explaining why he needed to keep so busy for therefore lengthy. “I’ve to be on SSRIs to assist my very low serotonin. As soon as I corrected that, we realised that I’ve acquired intense ADHD, anxiousness and OCD. I needed to determine what makes me tick. Why do I feel this manner? How can I cease going to such an excessive level each single time?”

By another particular person’s requirements, Heafy continues to be a wildly busy man, balancing Trivium with fatherhood, a daily Twitch presence and his ardour for Jiu-Jitsu. Nevertheless, he’s zeroed in on being a musician and a dad, and the lyrics on the three songs that make up Struck Lifeless are him interrogating his personal thought course of.

Opener Bury Me with My Screams is in regards to the spiral that led as much as his breakdown, centrepiece Struck Lifeless (Ache Is Simpler to Bear in mind) quotes one thing that bassist Paolo Gregoletto instructed him at his intervention, and widescreen finale Six Partitions is about making an attempt to interrupt free from psychological well being struggles.

“I buried myself in my very own coffin,” Heafy says, “and the six partitions of this picket coffin are what I pictured. I’m lastly making an attempt to interrupt free. It took, like, a yr. It was in January [2025] after I began coming to. On the primary tour after therapy – after 38, 39 years of residing the identical manner – I used to be like, ‘Holy shit! I’m having a lot enjoyable!’”

Musically, Trivium appeared backwards whereas making Struck Lifeless: the writing coincided with their rehearsals for a co-headline tour with Bullet for My Valentine, the place they performed 2005 breakthrough Ascendancy in full. Nevertheless, the EP is simply as forward-thinking as it’s nostalgic. Bury Me… closes with a torrent of breakdowns heavy sufficient to homicide a new child elephant, and the intro of Six Partitions brings the shamisen, a Japanese stringed instrument, into Trivium’s world.

Ascendancy’s lyrics had been simply as naked as Struck Lifeless’s, with a 19-year-old Heafy opening up about melancholy and social anxiousness. The album catapulted Trivium into metallic’s stratosphere, however it was a combined blessing. As nice as all of the journal covers and blockbuster excursions had been, the band discovered themselves being bullied by jealous friends and gatekeeping followers.

“It was tough being bullied by our favorite bands, and by their followers,” Heafy displays at the moment. “We acquired bottles thrown at us [while onstage]. Individuals tried to accost us by our van. We had been on tour with Lamb of God, Machine Head and Gojira in 2006, and we had our sound man stroll out on us. I used to be going to our bus and a few man stated [sarcastically], ‘Good present,’ and flipped me off and walked off.”

Having been by way of that and are available out the opposite facet, Heafy’s now a staunch advocate for brand spanking new metallic bands, not wanting them to be hazed the way in which he was. Trivium steadily choose younger artists to open for them, and Heafy has a radio present devoted to spotlighting rising expertise. So, for the second half of our interview, we requested him to choose 5 up-and-coming metallic acts who’re really impressing him proper now. That is who he thinks will take over in 2026:

Match for an Post-mortem

“It was Corey [Beaulieu, Trivium lead guitarist] who first acquired me into them. I feel he despatched me Heads Will Hold first. I used to be like, ‘Holy shit, that is extremely heavy!’, as a result of it’s that combination of stuff that I really like. It feels a bit bit like they’d have been within the Gothenburg sound, a bit bit like they’re into hardcore, and a bit bit like they’re into trendy metallic. After which I heard Hydra, and I used to be like, ‘This is among the greatest usages of a breakdown basically being a tune that I’ve heard since a band like Pantera.’

“We introduced them out on the Trivium, Arch Enemy, Whereas She Sleeps, Match for an Post-mortem North American tour, they usually had been simply such pretty, fantastic guys. I spent hours or days taking part in video games with Joe Unhealthy [frontman Joseph Badolato] whereas we each streamed. Love him. I really like all the blokes: I had all of them at my home, mainly, when my children had been possibly a yr outdated. We acquired all of them Cuban meals.

“They’re so freaking good dwell. They’re simply good. The stuff that Joe can do, from his tremendous low screams to his excessive screams after which his singing vary, it’s simply marvellous. The songs that Will Putney [guitarist/producer] writes… I feel Putney is an excellent songwriter and a fantastic producer. While you hear a Putney document, you realize immediately it’s one among his data. There’s this dwell vitality to it whereas additionally being good. It sounds so properly put collectively.”

Orbit Tradition

“I really like them a lot. I’d say, if somebody hasn’t heard them earlier than, I don’t wish to pigeonhole them however they’re for followers of Gojira, Machine Head, Concern Manufacturing unit – the glory days of every of those bands. It jogs my memory of melodic demise metallic in a manner, however it’s not. It’s acquired moments of the 2000s vibe of the Gothenburg sound. The songs are superior, the manufacturing is superior. However, it’s achieved very otherwise. I feel it’s actually cool that, at occasions, the drums will actually simply groove. It’ll give nearly a Chaos A.D. form of simplicity, drum-wise [referring to Sepultura’s influential 1993 groove metal album].

“Vocally, Niklas [Karlsson, vocals/guitars] is a powerhouse. Similar to Joe, he’s in a position to do very low screams to very excessive screams. He has such a fantastic grit scream. His gritty singing jogs my memory of [classic Metallica album] Experience the Lightning. It doesn’t sound like James Hetfield, however it makes you consider Hetfield from ’84, ’85, ’86.

“Niklas was one of many individuals who influenced me to get my grit scream again. The primary time we toured with them, I used to be nonetheless doing my secure screaming that I’d achieved for 10 years [Matt adopted a new screaming technique after blowing out his voice in 2014]. I bear in mind listening to Niklas’ voice and I used to be like, ‘Goddamn!’ He was positively one among my inspirations to get that again. The truth that a band that’s comparatively new can encourage a band that’s been doing it for 27 years, that’s superior.”

Burner

“Burner’s album [2023’s It All Returns to Nothing] is that good fusing of those completely different sounds and kinds and worlds whereas being its personal factor, which is de facto cool. It so seamlessly blends issues collectively. I feel earlier than, possibly within the 2000s, you can actually really feel the black and white mixture of kinds. However, I feel the way in which Burner have achieved it, it’s their very own palette they’ve created. It’s laborious to say, ‘Hey, did they get this from Mastodon-era bands? From sludgier bands? From hardcore? From excessive metallic?’, however you could have all these tonalities inside it.

“They’ve a extremely wonderful recording high quality, already. Straight out of the gate, listening to the guitar sound and the vocal sound, you realize straight away that it’s Burner. I feel that that’s a extremely vital factor. When you possibly can hear that individualism that rapidly, that’s a uncommon factor, as a result of there are a variety of bands at the moment which are form of chasing the identical sound. There are 5 bands the place I’ll hear 5 singles and go, ‘This all seems like the identical band.’ While you hear a band like Burner, you realize straight away that that is their sound.

“If I had been to provide Burner any recommendation, it could be the recommendation I gave to bands after I helped produce their data. I’d say, think about your self taking part in at 1pm at Wacken or Summer season Breeze or one thing, to twenty,000 or 30,000 individuals who’ve by no means heard of you earlier than. What’s a guitar riff or a beat or a vocal line or a hook that by 2am, after they’re achieved watching the headliner, they’ll nonetheless bear in mind you for? What’s your Roots Bloody Roots refrain, your Du Hast refrain? Let’s hear Burner’s model of those.”

Heriot

“Our supervisor’s identical to us: he’ll inform us, ‘Hey, examine this band out,’ and we’ll examine them out. [When I first heard Heriot] I used to be like, ‘Holy shit, that is pulverisingly heavy.’ There are these form of moody vibes in between. After I was dropping my children off in school, one other one of many dads was sporting a Heriot shirt. I used to be like, ‘Oh, man, we’re touring with them [in North America this autumn]!’ He was extra enthusiastic about Heriot than us.

“Debbie [Gough, singer/guitarist] is fucking superior and he or she appears to be like so badass, too. With that Jackson old-school model guitar that she wears, it jogs my memory of Andreas [Kisser] from Sepultura. The music hearkens again typically to outdated 90s industrial, which is one thing that’s close to and expensive to my coronary heart: initially, Trivium was meant to be an industrial band. Typically I get vibes of Godflesh after I hear them, or in the event you stripped again and made heavier Napalm Demise.

“I simply love the visceral heaviness that goes on. I bear in mind watching them quite a bit on this tour and folks being very simply, like, ‘Holy shit! That is so heavy! That is so good!’ They’re fantastic individuals. Rudy [Alex Rüdinger] truly simply gave haircuts to a few the band members. I really like the vibes of people who find themselves simply good, good individuals, who can play extremely heavy music. There’s one thing additional heavy about that!”

Paledusk

“HUGs is the opening tune of Gachiakuta, which is a extremely wild anime. It’s a present the place unhealthy persons are despatched to this trash pit. I don’t wish to give an excessive amount of else away, however it jogs my memory of Borderlands and Dune and Fallout multi functional. Musically, it begins off with this cool singing sample that has a extremely heavy scream beneath. It nearly jogs my memory of the screams that I do. After which it simply will get actually, actually wild, like this sort of a new-school, tremendous heavy, Carry Me the Horizons wildness combined with Mick Gordon [composer of the recent Doom games]. Think about the Doom rating and Carry Me The Horizon after they’re actually going heavy and nutty, utilizing digital chops and stutters contained in the tune. It makes it seem to be the music is glitching.

“The vocalist [Kaito Nagai], typically he’ll be singing fairly freaking excessive, after which he’ll go into this ultra-high, actually unusual, heavy, form of Architects-three-or-four-records-ago stuff. Actually, actually cool, actually weird. That’s what’s occurring within the Japanese scene: it’s actually bizarre. Being half-Japanese, I can say, us Japanese folks are fairly unusual. It’s actually cool that Paledusk are exemplifying that in a brand new manner, with these no-holds-barred tune buildings. The hook buildings don’t at all times make sense. They actually don’t repeat such as you’d count on them to. It’s very cool, very bizarre.”