In case you haven't noticed high profile collabs have become all the rage lately and the heavy music world just got another rather awesome but unexpected one in the form of Rōnin the latest single from Ibaraki. The new black metal project of Trivium's Matt Heafy and Emperor's Ihsahn unleash the menacing vocalisations of none other than My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way on Rōnin and the results are black metal AF.
Watch the video for Rōnin below.
The unexpected coming together of two of the biggest alternative icons of the MySpace era has understandably blown the collective minds of residents of both the emo and metal side of the collaboration, with Way's venoms screams, unlike anything we've ever heard from him before.
Heafy shares some insight into the song's meaning and its place in the upcoming debut Ibaraki album Rashōmon
"'A rōnin is a masterless warrior. 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. '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 Way, Heafy reveals that Way has been a source of inspiration for him for a long time.
"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."
Rōnin isn't the only big collab on Rashōmon, the album which is due to drop on May 6th via Nuclear Blast also features the previously released Akumu featuring none other than Behemoth's creative powerhouse, Nergal.
Rashomon Tracklist
1. Hakanaki Hitsuzen
2. Kagutsuchi
3. Ibaraki-Dōji
4. Jigoku Dayū
5. Tamashii No Houkai
6. Akumu (Feat. Nergal)
7. Komorebi
8. Rōnin (Feat. Gerard Way)
9.Susanoo No Mikoto (Feat. Ihsahn)
10. Kaizoku
The debut Ibaraki release add to a busy few months for Heafy who has released several cover songs following the release of Trivium's 10th studio album, In The Court Of The Dragon in October.
Buy In The Court Of The Dragon Now In The Maniacs Store
Listen to Ibaraki now
