The playlist: Trivium's Matt Heafy

The first song I remember… Eruption – Van Halen

 “I remember my dad playing it in his car. I think he had the Best Of – Vol 1 and I just remember hearing Eruption and being in the car. 

"My dad always played as a hobby and there was a guitar in the house. I decided to pick it up when I was 11 to start trying to play.”

The song I played in my first band... Self Esteem – The Offspring

“My seventh grade talent show was the first time I’d ever played in front of people and I played this. For my eighth grade talent show I covered No Leaf Clover by Metallica and that’s what got me the try out for Trivium. And the first song Trivium played live was Sic by Slipknot - we opened with it.” 

The song that inspired me to write… Enter Sandman – Metallica

“It was Pain off one of the early demos from the Ab Initio release and that song would have obviously been inspired by Metallica. The first Metallica song I heard was Enter Sandman, that was also the first metal song I ever heard.”

A song that came together quickly... Endless Night – Trivium

“This is one that came together very easily together in the jam room. This track is one that I started up a long time ago, and it was initially something I wrote to score a friend’s personal training business. 

"When Paolo heard the song, he loved it and wanted to restructure it for The Sin And The Sentence. He learned the piece and restructured some of it, wrote the lyrics, and we easily learned it together in the room.”

The song I play when I'm trying out new gear... Mein Teil – Rammstein

“I always go to that riff [hums it] because it’s such a fucking heavy riff! I usually play that when trying out a guitar.” 

The song I would play to someone who had never heard my music… The Sin And The Sentence – Trivium

“This one for sure. Finally, you can hand someone that song or this record and it defines Trivium. It defines everything we do in that song and that one record.”

A solo I find really emotive… Altitudes – Jason Becker

“I love the entire song. When you hear that song and you hear that record Perpetual Burn, it doesn’t seem like a human being could be capable of playing like that. Because there are players that can be super shreddy who don’t have soul, and there can be guitar players who have soul so it doesn’t matter if they can be shreddy. 

"Jason is able to do everything and anything in between. I’ve been trying to casually learn Altitudes for my entire guitar playing life and I’m nowhere near it. I’ve seen some guys that can do it. It’s something that’s the next level of skill. 

"I love classical music so much but I think I’ve got into classical through listening to guys like Yngwie and Jason Becker. Getting into it backwards and seeing how Jason took the electric guitar and made it feel like classical music. And I love that.”

The most challenging song of ours to play live… Down From The Sky – Trivium

“We’ve had differing songs over the years that perhaps we didn’t rehearse as much before actually tracking them in the studio - those are always the most difficult songs to play. 

"With the new record, we played the hell out of every track before ever setting foot in the studio - singing and all - ensuring that wouldn’t happen again. 

"With that said being said, the Down From The Sky solo of mine has always kicked my ass live. That’s one that I wrote on a [Dean] ML body, so playing it on a Les Paul live has always been a bit tricky."

The song I’d like to be remembered for… Shogun – Trivium

“I composed most of that song but it was actually completed as a band. It was a lofty idea of mine and I was really happy to see it come to fruition. I always feel like it’s a mini movie within a song – and although it’s long, it doesn’t feel too excessive.”

The Sin And The Sentence is out now on Roadrunner