TRIVIUM singer and guitarist, Matthew Kiichi Heafy, has revealed the third single “Rōnin”, featuring EMPEROR’s Ihsahn and MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’s Gerard Way, from his long-awaited Black Metal project, IBARAKI . IBARAKI’s debut album “Rashomon”, will be released on May 6th via Nuclear Blast.
“A rōnin is a masterless warrior,” elaborates Kiichi. “The final two full compositions on ‘Rashomon’ 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 guitar and bass tracks are a time-capsule of sorts in that their parts – on the final album – are actually from the year they were tracked.”
He continues: “One can begin to see the shifts as the years went on for the writing of the album. ‘Kagutsuchi’/’Ibaraki-doji’ being written and tracked in 2010/2011, all the way up to ‘Rōnin’/’Susanoo No Mikot’ being written and tracked in 2016/2017.”
As for his collaboration with Gerard Way, Kiichi shares: “Gerard Way has been a long-time 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” 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
You can watch the official music video for «Rōnin» below:
