Matt Heafy Slams Bullet For My Valentine Over ‘Silly’ Tour Collapse: ‘We Had To Completely Uproot Our Entire Year’

Trivium frontman Matt Heafy, who previously acted as a peacekeeper when the band’s co-headlining tour with Bullet For My Valentine fell apart, has now offered a more candid and frustrated perspective on the situation. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Heafy called the tour’s premature end “silly” and revealed that his band was forced to “completely uproot our entire year” as a result.

The highly anticipated “The Poisoned Ascendancy” tour was announced in February 2024 as a year-long, global celebration of the 20th anniversaries of Trivium‘s Ascendancy and Bullet For My Valentine‘s The Poison. However, after a successful run in Europe and North America, the tour was abruptly canceled in May.

“When we flew up to London [in February 2024] to do a press conference for a world tour that was meant to go from January through December, we didn’t intend our press conference to be for a world tour that was essentially three months long. Which is silly!” Heafy told the magazine. “What’s a three-month-long world tour that plays two continents?”

“We had to change a lot of things. We had to completely uproot our entire year.”

At the time of the cancellation, Trivium members Paolo Gregoletto and Corey Beaulieu publicly blamed Bullet For My Valentine’s frontman, Matt Tuck, for the decision. Bullet For My Valentine quickly issued a counter-statement, claiming they wanted to focus their efforts on recording a new studio album.

Heafy hinted that the full story of the tour’s collapse has not been told, stating that he “could write a book on all the things that [Trivium] had to deal with” on the run. He added that he would not elaborate further “out of respect for [Bullet’s] fans.” Despite the drama, Heafy was quick to praise Bullet bassist Jamie Mathias, calling him “one of my favourite people in the world.”

Complicating the narrative, Bullet For My Valentine did end up touring again this year, announcing and completing an Australian tour in October where they performed The Poison in full, despite their previous statement about focusing on recording.

Trivium, meanwhile, was forced to “pivot” from the collapse of their year-long plans. They quickly organized their own North American headlining run, the “Ascend Above The Ashes” tour, which kicks off on October 31 and features support from Jinjer and Heriot.

The tour cancellation was just the beginning of a chaotic period for Trivium. Earlier this month, the band announced the sudden departure of longtime drummer Alex Bent, just one day before their performance at the Aftershock festival. They have since recruited former Whitechapel drummer Alex Rüdinger for the upcoming tour and to participate in writing their next album.