IBARAKI
Rashomon
NUCLEAR BLAST
Extreme grandeur from Matt Heafy’s solo venture
Ibaraki: Matt Heafy meditates on the metallic arts
IF EVER THERE was a passion project, Matt Heafy’s expedition into the world of black(ened) metal is it. The Trivium frontman’s solo venture has been rumoured for more than a decade and now arrives, with impeccable timing, just as its creator’s main band are enjoying their greatest level of popularity and prominence yet. Drenched in the imagery and mythological themes of Heafy’s ancient Japanese heritage, Rashomon is plainly much more than some self-indulgent sideproject. The music – complex, crafted, tumultuous and tender – is both frequently surprising and more or less along the lines of what one might expect, particularly given Ihsahn’s ongoing role as this project’s spirit guide.
At its best, Rashomon is revelatory. Trivium have long exhibited a solid understanding of heavy metal’s dynamic potential, and those sensibilities have enabled Heafy to let his imagination run riot here. After a disarmingly wistful, accordion-led overture, Kagutsuchi sets the tone with swathes of white-knuckle extremity, progged-out structural twists, flurries of traditional Japanese instrumentation and Heafy switching from scabrous screech to a sonorous baritone croon that stays just the right side of overwrought. Similarly, Ibaraki-Dōji verges on celebratory in its maxedout over-the-topness, as Heafy channels his inner Emperor, but meddles with the Norwegians’ formula with thinly disguised glee, veering artfully from allout blackened fury to sombre, somnambulant waltz and back again.