Ibaraki

Ibaraki began as a black metal side project of Trivium vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, who first spoke about it publicly in 2012 under the name Mrityu. Emperor’s Ihsahn became involved as producer and co-writer, and the two worked on the material on and off for many years. The original name came from Ashtanga yoga, where it stands for the concept of life and death.

On Ihsahn’s suggestion, Heafy turned to his Japanese heritage for the lyrics instead of the Norse themes common in black metal. The project was renamed Ibaraki after a demon from Japanese legend, the same figure that serves as Trivium’s mascot.

The first single, “Tamashii No Houkai”, featuring Ihsahn, was released on January 21, 2022. The debut album Rashomon followed on May 6, 2022, through Nuclear Blast. The songs had existed as rough demos for a long time, and the pause in touring during the pandemic gave Heafy and Ihsahn the time to finish them. Ihsahn produced the record, and Heafy’s Trivium bandmates Corey Beaulieu, Paolo Gregoletto and Alex Bent also played on it.

Rashomon features guest appearances from Behemoth’s Nergal on “Akumu” and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way on “Rōnin”. It remains the only Ibaraki album to date.

Current line-up: Matt Heafy (vocals, guitar)