Trivium's Matt Heafy announces debut album from black metal solo project

Trivium’s Matt Heafy has announced full details of the debut album from his black metal solo project Ibaraki.

‘Rashomon’ will come out on May 6 via Nuclear Blast, and it’s being previewed by a new track called ‘Akumu’, which features vocals from Behemoth’s Nergal.

“‘Akumu’ translates to ‘nightmare’ — and with this piece, I encourage the listener to work to find their interpretations of what they feel from the lyrics, music, and the haunting visuals of the music video,” Heafy said of the new song.

“I have always been fascinated by Sagazan’s ‘Transfiguration,’ and for years, I have wanted to pay homage to his works with a performance art piece; to finally be able to immerse myself in his style was an intense experience.”

He added: “Having Nergal guest in this Ihsahn co-written piece allowed me to combine many of my long-time influences; and when I presented with Nergal of the challenge of translating my lyrics into Polish, it brought the song to another level.”

Listen to ‘Akumu’ ft. Nergal below.

The new track follows recent preview ‘Tamashii No Houkai’. “‘Tamashii No Houkai’ means ‘the breaking of the soul’ or ‘soul collapse’,” Heafy said of the track in a statement. “It’s a Japanese term that didn’t exist before, but one we forged to reflect the song’s meaning.”

He continued: “‘Tamashii No Houkai’ is co-written by Ihsahn – the legend behind Emperor and a musician who has been a longtime influence and mentor to so much that I do in music. The writing of this song was the turning point for IBARAKI – it summarised everything from the past, present, and future of what I thought black metal was, is, and could be.”

Trivium released their 10th studio album, ‘In The Court Of The Dragon’, last October.

The band recently rescheduled their UK and European tour dates to 2023, citing travel difficulties caused by the pandemic. You can see the new dates here.