Trivium, 26th June 2026, Helviti, Copenhell Festival, Denmark

Photo: Goran www.urbanmescalero.com

With yet another new drummer and a new album in the works, Trivium were set to play the main stage at Copenhell. Last year, the band released the Struck Dead EP and are now close to completing a new album, which will be their first to feature new drummer Alex Rüdinger.

For their third show at Copenhell, the band was met with a massive crowd despite the heat and the early 4 PM timeslot. Right from the start, Trivium had a firm grip on the audience, with both the crowd and the band feeding off each other’s energy. The result was an utterly enjoyable and energetic live experience that highlighted everything that makes festival shows so special.

Opening with “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” from the breakthrough 2005 album Ascendancy rather than saving it for the end of the set was an explosive decision, and following it with “Strife” might not have been the most obvious choice, but it proved to be the right one.

The vigorous stage performance never came at the expense of Trivium’s trademark precision. Their blend of crushing heaviness and melody made them a perfect fit for a daytime festival slot. In many ways, Trivium’s music encapsulates the essence of heavy metal: massive riffs, catchy melodies, slick dual-guitar solos, and breakdowns made for jumping.

Despite the intense heat, the packed crowd kept up the energy throughout the hour-long show. The band’s more melodic songs, such as “Until the World Goes Cold” and “The Heart From Your Hate”, kept the audience singing, while the heavier material inspired jumping, moshing, crowd surfing, and everything in between.

Matt Heafy’s stage presence is about as predictable as it gets, but it’s also highly effective. He also won over the audience by repeating a couple of phrases in Danish. Much like the band itself, you know exactly what you’re going to get with him – and that’s far from a bad thing. Heafy could, however dial down on those countless gene simmons imitations. The tongue out just get very old after first 50 times.

With Trivium, a strong live performance is almost guaranteed. Sometimes they deliver a show that is virtually flawless, and yesterday at Copenhell was one of those occasions. On top of all that the band achieved with very limited usage of props unlike few of the bands who played similar slots the day before. Trivium focused on meat-and-potatos approach and delivered impecably.