Matt Heafy's Black Metal Band Debuts First Song With Ihsahn

At long last, Ibaraki, the new black metal band from Trivium's Matt Heafy also featuring Emperor legend Ihsahn, have delivered on years of promise of music and their debut song, "Tamashii No Houkai" has arrived.

"'Tamashii No Houkai' means 'the breaking of the soul' or 'soul collapse. It's a Japanese term that didn't exist before, but one we forged to reflect the song's meaning," said Heafy of the band's dynamic first offering.

Originally, the vision for the project began under the proposed moniker of Mrityu and, as the musician revealed over the summer, he and Ihsahn, who produced the project and co-wrote the new track, agreed it was better to change the name to Ibaraki as the aim and scope of what Heafy wanted to represent shifted.

As much as Trivium have explored the vast expanses of extreme metal in their music, Heafy's writing has never sounded quite like it does on "Tamashii No Houkai." There's a dissonance and relentless fury, sometimes countered by his more heavenly clean vocals, present and it's a thrilling start for what sounds like a truly promising project with a progressive scope.

"'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 summarized everything from the past, present, and future of what I thought black metal was, is, and could be," Heafy continued. He added that the song "is the perfect summary and representation of everything that Ibaraki is… and will be."

Watch the music video for the song at the bottom of the page.

Ibaraki, "Tamashii No Houkai" Lyrics

Fever has boiled inside the lecherous growth
Exposing the teeth from which a chasm will be bored
Pulling apart the flesh, with forcible scorn
Only through torment and pain can love be adorned
With this fang, I want to feast on misery
With this fang: drenched in discharge, tangled in vein
Sickness, take me by the hand
Nurture that which I can't understand
With this fang, obstruct the entryways: the gates
Sickness, take me by the hand
Nurture that which I can't understand
Feed me from your malformed chest
In full awareness, in consciousness of this process
Through no joy, or affection, or emotion will this be conducted
Not only the shell, but also the pearl must be broken
The soul awoken; through fear and hurt and depredation
With this fang; disgorge the part of me I hate
Sickness, take me by the hand
Nurture that which I can't understand
Feed me from your malformed chest
Still - I starve for something more
The desecration of something adored
Sickness, secrete and release the soul
Relinquishment
Cave in to control
Sickness, take me by the hand
Nurture that which I can't understand
Feed me from your malformed chest
Still - I starve for something more
The desecration of something adored
Sickness, secrete and release the soul
Expelled from the void
It's not a wound or a death that's desired
Just a thirst for the ability to smolder a fire
How I regret, and repress, and regret
But this hunger consumes me and drowns me in its mire
Fever has boiled inside the lecherous growth
Exposing the teeth from which a chasm will be bored
Pulling apart the flesh, with forcible scorn
Only through torment and pain can love be adorned