Trivium, In the Court of the Dragon

There are somewhere between 1 and 3,999 copies of Trivium's In The Court of the Dragon Translucent Yellow 2LP Vinyl left. 

I know that because (1) it's a limited edition of 4,000, (2) you can still buy one, so there's at least one copy left, and (3) I just bought my copy. 

For $21.98 + $7.99 Shipping & Handling + $1.80 Tax = $31.77...which seems like a pretty good deal for a two album set. 

Hmmm? Oh, yes, I did say Trivium.

No, I didn't know who Trivium were 24 hours ago. But I was doing that The Metallica Blacklist entry / warning, and as I went to verify this and that I ended up seeing the album cover art for Trivium's latest (you know how that stuff works)...

...and I had to stop for a closer look at it. 

It's a very nice painting, isn't it?

I immediately thought (1) I'll bet that's a heavy metal album and (2) I don't really like a lot of heavy metal stuff, but (3) I'm going to give this a listen.

I fortunately (and completely at random) started with "Like a Sword Over Damocles." 

"Fortunately" because this song had a couple of elements which appealed to me immensely. To wit: (1) the allusion to the legendary king, and (2) the fact that while the verses were sung in that scary raspy voice, the chorus was sung in a more natural, melodic way, which provided a nice balance. 

So I listened to it. Then I listened to it some more. Then I started listening to slightly different versions of it.

HERE's an interesting Kinda Live version of the song (Matt Heafy live vocals and guitar playing with taped band and background vocals)...

and HERE's a live version of the song...in fact, the live premiere of the song...and (small world) while the band was opening for Metallica. After watching this video I had to go look up the band on Wikipedia again to see if they had more than one drummer. My God, that Alex Bent fellow is amazing! 

And, of course, HERE is the Official Listeno (just a still picture, so not a Video).

And after that...before all of that, actually, but somewhere in the midst of that...I decided that I wanted to have this album. My first place to buy is always the band's own website if they have one, so I looked up Trivium and found this little slice of heavy metal heaven:

Well. If you want me to buy a book, put it in an illustrated box. 

And if you want me to buy an album, put it on colored vinyl. Or make it a limited edition. And this was both of those things. And to top it all off, it was a limited edition of 4,000 copies. That proved to be irresistible.

I'm still listening to other songs from the album, and I'm enjoying them immensely. One of the songs (can't remember which, but I'll figure it out at some point and come back for an update) ends with a turn towards something that sounds one hell of a lot like classical music. Hmpf. There's something I didn't expect to hear on a heavy metal album.

And I like it.

If you want a copy, go HERE. Soon, I think.