Trivium singer and guitarist Matthew Kiichi Heafy has shared another song from “Rashomon,” the debut album from his black metal-influenced Ibaraki project. “Rōnin” features My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way and Ihsahn.
“‘A rōnin is a masterless warrior,” Heafy said. “The final two full compositions on ‘Rashōmon‘ see a significant shift musically. The album as a whole—with the exception of the intro and outro—is actually presented in chronological order of earliest written to latter-most. The actual guitar and bass tracks are a time-capsule of sorts in that their parts—on the final album—is actually from the year they were tracked.”
“One can begin to see the shifts as the years went on for the writing of the album,” he continued. “‘Kagutsuchi’/’Ibaraki-doji’ being written and tracked in 2010/2011, all the way up to ‘Rōnin’/’Susanoo No Mikoto’ being written and tracked in 2016/2017.”
As for his collaboration with Way, Heafy said: “Gerard Way has been a longtime inspiration for me—like Ihsahn and Nergal—I have looked to Gerard as a constant source of motivation to be creative. While Gerard and I may be from different genres than where Ibaraki and black metal stem from—outsiders of sorts—the spirit and intent of our performances is what unites our passion for pushing boundaries.”
“Rashomon” will be released May 6 via Nuclear Blast. Pre-order it here on CD, vinyl, cassette, and T-Shirt + CD bundle.
Fans can get all the released songs by pre-saving here.
“Rashomon” track listing:
“Hakanaki Hitsuzen”
“Kagutsuchi”
“Ibaraki-Dōji”
“Jigoku Dayū”
“Tamashii No Houkai“
“Akumu” (Feat. Nergal)
“Komorebi”
“Rōnin” (Feat. Gerard Way)
“Susanoo No Mikoto” (Feat. Ihsahn)
“Kaizoku”
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