ALBUM REVIEW: Rashomon – Ibaraki
This album has been a long time in the making. Rumours of TRIVIUM‘s charismatic leader Matt Heafy venturing into the world of black metal have been swirling around for close to a decade now, something borne out of the man’s passion for the genre in general – he once gave an interview where he said that he got so deep into the music, if he saw someone wearing the shirt of a band he was listening to, that band instantly sucked; it was about finding those outfits so far into the underground they were interacting with the Earth’s core. This Friday can therefore be considered a watershed moment, for Rashomon, the debut release for Heafy‘s IBARAKI project, finally sees the light of day via Nuclear Blast Records.
Unsurprisingly, with Heafy allowed to have free reign over, well, everything, this was never going to be a straightforward hat doff to a genre of music he loves so much, and it takes all of two minutes to realise this; you wouldn’t find a black metal album opening with 90 seconds of accordion, choral vocals, strings and even a moment of oom-pah. But that’s where we find Rashomon and its welcome in the form of Hakanaki Hitsuzen, which segues into Kagutsuchi and a hugely entertaining blend of thunderous riffs, hi-hat heavy drums and an acoustic guitar high in the mix to allow for a juxtaposition scarcely seen.
Ibaraki-Doji starts more traditionally, as far as black metal is concerned; a grandiose gesture of blast beats and screams, however it dips into a wonderfully solemn moment of stripped back acoustics and then returns to the bombast of before. There are synths present in Jigoku Dayu – although not to the point of overbearing – and, in one of the many references to Heafy‘s Japanese heritage, Tamashii No Houkai opens with a video game soundbite before descending back into the dark, metallic chaos.
Throughout it all, Heafy goes from his trademark screams to his exquisite, baritone cleans, front and centre of a project so adored by him that you can hear it pouring out of his voice. He’s not alone, though: joining him on his journey are BEHEMOTH‘s Nergal on the brooding and sinister Akumu, black metal mastermind Ihsahn (who also produces the record) on both the aforementioned Tamashii… and penultimate track Susanoo No Mikoto and, perhaps most surprisingly, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE‘s Gerard Way on the nine-minute Ronin, which sees him deliver a screamed vocal performance so potent you wonder how he’s managed to keep it hiding for so long. Despite these cameos, nothing can take away from the main man, an individual blessed with an abundance of talent and who has finally produced the record he has worked so hard on for so long.
The American entrepreneur Scott Belsky once said ‘a labour of love always pays off’, and Rashomon is the very definition of that. It’s not all out black metal, nor is it merely TRIVIUM with more double bass drums and wailing guitars; it’s a wonderful middle ground that adds in many surprises and moments to keep listeners guessing right up to the final strains of Kaizoku. It might have taken Matt Heafy several years to get it off the ground, but it’s been worth the wait.
Rating: 8/10
Rashomon is set for release on May 6th via Nuclear Blast Records.
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