| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Dear Anxiety Can We Turn Back Yesterday Dying At The Sight Of The Rain To Save Me From Myself We Lost It All PERSONNEL Jared Dines - Guitars, bass & drums Matt Heafy - Vocals & select solos Release Date: December 4, 2020 Label: Independent Website: www.trivium.org Matt's Socials: YouTube / Facebook / Instagram / Twitch Jared's Socials: YouTube / Facebook / Instagram |  |
| In this ongoing time of COVID-19, collaborations between artists are at a high like we've never seen, and many artists are making the best use of this time by releasing some cool content online. Speaking of online content, over the last three years or so, Matt Heafy from Trivium has become a regular streamer on Twitch where he does play-alongs to Trivium songs, goes through his warm-up routines and even plays video games. He says that it has become a very stable second source of income for when Trivium is not touring, so kudos to him for accomplishing that. He has also formed a friendship with YouTuber Jared Dines over the last couple of years, to the point where Matt participated in Jared's Shred Wars and The Biggest Shred Collaboration videos. In return, Jared filled in for Matt on guitar in late 2018 when Matt had to leave Trivium's tour midway to be with his wife for the birth of their twins. | |
Now, I'm going to be completely honest as I always am. I was never a fan of Jared's, simply for the fact that I found his comedy pretty forced (a lot of YouTubers' comedy is forced in their content), and he became known as the YouTuber who likes to djent, and djent has never been my cup of tea. However, I won't deny his musical abilities, as he's multi-talented as a guitarist, bassist and a drummer. Just a few days ago, the two metal stars surprise-released a collaboration EP of original material, simply titled Dines X Heafy. I will not lie, I was kind of hesitant at first because when I saw that Jared was involved, I thought it was going to be something on the djent side of things. However, upon first listen I was proven wrong. Most of the riffs are in the vein of what Trivium would've written during Ascendancy and The Crusade, which is what I love.
| | While not a very surprising topic to write lyrics about, it has become an even more prevalent topic to write about in the last decade or so, and that is anxiety. The opening track aptly titled "Dear Anxiety" is sure to hit home with all those who suffer from it. Vocally, Matt uses both screams and cleans because both styles would work in a song that talks about anxiety and how a certain person feels about having to deal with it. The screams in the verses represent the anger, and the cleans in the chorus represent the sorrow. We then come to what is my favourite track here, which is "Can We Turn Back Yesterday". The lower cleans in the verses and the dark harmonies in the chorus are spine-tingling, and the riffing is equally as compelling. |
The title "To Save Me From Myself" seems to give a bit of a nod to the lyrics in "Catastrophist" from What The Dead Men Say. In the chorus, it almost sounds like Matt is channeling his inner Warrel Dane, because the vocal styling is very much in the vein of Warrel's vocal style. I think Matt should try covering a Nevermore or Sanctuary song on YouTube, because I think he'd do them justice. "We Lost It All" sounds very much in the vein of something that Bullet For My Valentine would do. Matter of fact, the verse riff sounds very akin to "P.O.W." from BFMV's Temper Temper album, and on top of that, there's no way that you can't have BFMV in your head when you hear that vocal chanting moment in the chorus. "Dying At The Sight Of The Rain" seems to be the only track that didn't quite grab me like the others did. I might have to listen to it a few more times to see if that changes anything. But at the moment, I would say it's the weakest of the five songs.
The Dines X Heafy EP was a real nice surprise to end what has been a horrible year. I went in expecting one thing, and I got the other. They say to never judge a book by its cover, but every once in a while, we all still have those moments where we do. Given that it was a really enjoyable listening experience, I seriously wouldn't mind another EP from Matt and Jared in the future.
Highs: "Dear Anxiety" and "Can We Turn Back Yesterday"
Lows: "Dying At The Sight Of The Rain" is the only weak spot here.
The Dines X Heafy EP was a real nice surprise to end what has been a horrible year. I went in expecting one thing, and I got the other. They say to never judge a book by its cover, but every once in a while, we all still have those moments where we do. Given that it was a really enjoyable listening experience, I seriously wouldn't mind another EP from Matt and Jared in the future.
Highs: "Dear Anxiety" and "Can We Turn Back Yesterday"
Lows: "Dying At The Sight Of The Rain" is the only weak spot here.
FINAL RATING
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