Here is Matt Heafy's track-by-track guide to "The Crusade":
"Ignition"
'Ignition' is an extremely thrashy track, it's got no bullshit! The vocals come in almost immediately, which is quite unusual for Trivium. The rhythm's really fucking fast.
"Detonation"
'Detonation' is part two of 'Ignition', lyrically. In a way you can think of it as a three-piece song, like an opera, I guess. It's got the slow, heavy shit which is like the first movement. The second movement is fast and chaotic and the third movement is more chilled out and melodic.
"Entrance of the Conflagration"
This song as a long song title! It's another really fucking thrashy one. The chorus is extremely catchy again and it reminds me of Megadeth's 'Countdown To Extinction'.
"Unrepentant"
'Unrepentant' is one of Corey's songs. All of his songs remind me of old school Annihilator or old school Megadeth. They're very 'notey' and it was really hard for me to learn how to play this one. Corey can do a lot of straight down-picking like Hetfield, so this is a very busy song and it's got a nice solo section. I did all the lyrics again, though, on this record.
"Anthem (We Are The Fire)"
'Anthem' is a track on which Paolo laid down a really fucking sleazy pre-chorus. He's been the master of the sleazy riffs on this album! Think of Motley Crue, Skid Row, and Dio! It's fucking rad!
"And Sadness Will Sear"
This song is one of mine. I was thinking new-school Rammstein when I wrote it. It's written on a seven-string and it's slow, minimalistic and very heavy. The verses have no guitar but just a melody thing with the bass and drums. Lyrically, it's a song dedicated to and about Matthew Shepard who was a gay kid who was hunted down in Wyoming in 1998 and beaten almost to death and left to die. It's a very emotional song and it's very heavy and dark. It's got a depressing feel but I wanted to do it because I don't think many people know the story.
"Becoming The Dragon"
'Becoming the Dragon' is a title I got from a book that I really liked. It's a little groovier and is a head-banging, fist-pumping kind a song. It's a realy most song. Then, right in the middle, I really use the seven-string and it goes into a very Dream Theatre-type part, then a death-metal part and just a world of technical shit!
"To The Rats"
'To the Rats' is a Paolo song. It's one of the fastest thrash-metal songs we have. It's fucking balls-out thrash
"This World Can?t Tear Us Apart"
'This World Can't Tear Us Apart' is basically this album's 'Dying In Your Arms'. Whereas that song was about relationships and being good, about making your life better and taking a glimpse of the life that used to be. It's another rock song.
"Tread The Floods"
This has a very technical riff. It actually took me a really long time to learn this riff and it's all over the place! But the chorus ended up sounding like a Guns N' Roses song that never was!
"Contempt Breeds Contamination"
This one is recorded on a seven-string guitar in a different turning. It starts off with a really technical death-metal riff, not new-school death metal but a Cynic or Atheist style death-metal. It's really fast and really thrashy but it's got a really catchy chorus. It almost sounds like a radio-rock but in a good way.
"The Rising"
This was also written by Paolo. I don't even know how to describe it. It's a style I've never heard before. He played it for all of us and we were like, 'Is this a cover?'. It sounds like something Def Leppard might have done. It sounds sleazy and dirty but catchy anthemic, and gigantic too. It's fucking awesome!
"The Crusade"
'The Crusade' is an eight minute instrumental. It's very, very skilled and it's got some odd time signatures. It's really fucking good. We were thinking of 'Orion' when we wrote it. It doesn't sound like it but we wanted a long instrumental track that really makes people think.

coolm/
where did you get this from?

props, good info

i got it from the roadrunner records street team site thing. i logged in, and this was what appeared.

good info! I think I've seen something like this before but I like it.

Awesome

lol wow i wanna hear the songs that took matt a while to learn. maybe i can learn them as well....or maybe.... ill just listen to it ,and leave the playing to them.

This album is going to kick ass.
Zach

Now if only Matt Heafy can come up with the official meanings to the songs as he did with Ascendancy.

QUOTE(ZachMetal)This album is going to kick ass.
Zach
Amen To That Bro..

QUOTE(Axe Shredder)"And Sadness Will Sear"  
This song is one of mine. I was thinking new-school Rammstein when I wrote it. It's written on a seven-string and it's slow, minimalistic and very heavy. The verses have no guitar but just a melody thing with the bass and drums. Lyrically, it's a song dedicated to and about Matthew Shepard who was a gay kid who was hunted down in Wyoming in 1998 and beaten almost to death and left to die. It's a very emotional song and it's very heavy and dark. It's got a depressing feel but I wanted to do it because I don't think many people know the story.
I remember when that happened. That story has always really bothered me and it really made me realize just how ignorant and close-minded people are in this country. I gotta say I think it's great that Matt wrote a song dedicated to that story. I really look forward to reading the lyrics for this one.
As far as all the other songs go...yeah, they sound awesome.