TRIVIUM singer and guitarist Matthew kiichichaos Heafy reveals the first single from his long-awaited and much-anticipated IBARAKI project.
IBARAKI — the name for a terrifying Japanese demon taken from feudal legend — is the end result of Kiichi's continued journey to find his voice. It's personal, it's deep, and its inspirations include everything from an adoration for the extremes of black metal and beyond. "'Tamashii No Houkai' means 'the breaking of the soul' or 'soul collapse," explains Kiichi. "It's a Japanese term that didn't exist before, but one we forged to reflect the song's meaning." Kiichi, who is of Japanese heritage, continues, "'Tamashii No Houkai' is co-written by Ihsahn the legend behind EMPEROR official 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."
Kiichi finishes, "'Tamashii No Houkai' is the perfect summary and representation of everything that IBARAKI is… and will be."
It was Kiichi's exposure to Ihsahn solo work that would inspire the gradual craftsmanship that would eventually become IBARAKI. It was also the beginning of a friendship and creative collaboration that would eventually compel Ihsahn to take a leap of his own into a newfound role as producer on the project. While much of the material for IBARAKI was assembled over months and years — as much a songwriting process as an exchange of ideas between friends — it wasn't until the pandemic that the space was created and the idea could really flourish.
Today's tune "Tamashii No Houkai" by IBARAKI project with special guest Ihsahn of EMPEROR. Enjoy!
.
Norwegian black metal vet and EMPEROR founder/vocalist IHSAHN has released a new EP, "Telemark", February 14 via Candlelight. It features three new originals and two covers of IRON MAIDEN's "Wrathchild" and, perhaps more surprisingly, Lenny Kravitz's "Rock and Roll Is Dead". Maybe one will be here on one of the Thursday Covers in the future, who knows. IHSAHN has announced two EPs dedicated to his home region of Telemark, where the first one is out now.
For the EPs, he is drawing inspiration from Telemark, the scenic, mountainous southern region in Norway where EMPEROR was formed and IHSAHN has remained throughout his lengthy career. For the first time, his lyrics will be in Norwegian, and he’s let some of those early black metal aesthetics creep back into his songcraft for this first EP.
“The title of the EP is Telemark,” IHSAHN said in a press release. “It’s the county I grew up in and still live in, so the whole thing is situated there and very much inspired by that. So you could say it’s a roots-orientated album. I decided early on that I wanted this to be very purely related to black metal aesthetics. I wanted to distill the basic, bare bones black metal influences of my musical roots, given the overall concept, writing something for and from Telemark. I decided to do Norwegian lyrics for the first time, too. It feels very much closer to home in many ways.”
“My idea all along was that I would perform all the contents of this EP live, but to build the live set, piecing songs from my catalogue that fit with the aesthetics of the EP,” IHSAHN said. “I was very lucky to be able to collaborate with the Inferno Festival, so I’ll be premiering this show at Inferno in 2020. The plan is to then follow up this EP with its aesthetic and musical counterpart, wherein I can distill all those more progressive, experimental and mellow elements of my music.”
In 2018, Revolver went on the road with DEAFHEAVEN for our two-part documentary "Corrupt Love Across America" last month, they dropped in again, on a few of the West Coast tour dates on their co-headlining run with BARONESS. The group's recently released stand-alone single "Black Brick" — a B-side from their excellent, adventurous fourth album, "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" — serves as a particularly vicious highlight of DEAFHEAVENs set. In contrast to the heavily shoegaze-inflected atmosphere of many of the quintet's other songs, the nearly eight-minute composition is steeped in classic black-metal grimness and ferocity, both of which are only amplified live onstage. Watch the recent performance to see what we mean.
DEAFHEAVEN are out on a long North American co-headlining tour with BARONESS, and with the avant-garde metal band ZEAL & ARDOR opening. They’ve also got a few dates with GOJIRA and EMPEROR coming up, see all the dates below.
DEAFHEAVEN are from left to right:
Chris Johnson - Bass
Daniel Tracy - Drums
Kerry McCoy - Guitar
George Clarke - Vocals
Shiv Mehra - Guitar
Today's tune "Black Brick", taken from their latest album "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love". While "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" was lauded for its avant-garde approach, "Black Brick" sees DEAFHEAVEN performing at their heaviest yet.
Upcoming tourdates:
3/08 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
3/09 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
3/10 – Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall *
3/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren *
3/13 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern *
3/14 – Anaheim, CA @ The House of Blues *
3/16 – Berkeley, CA @ UC Theatre *
3/18 – Portland, OR @ Roseland *
3/19 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox *
3/20 – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue Theatre *
3/22 – Edmonton, CA @ Union Hall *
3/23 – Calgary, AB @ The Palace Theatre *
3/24 – Spokane, WA @ The Knitting Factory *
3/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex *
3/27 – Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theater *
3/29 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre *
3/30 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee *
3/31 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater *
4/02 – Toronto, ON @ The Danforth Music Hall *
4/03 – Montreal, QC @ The Corona Theater *
4/05 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom *
4/06 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium *
4/07 – Albany, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall *
4/09 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre *
4/10 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore *
4/12 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 *
4/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore / Decibel Metal & Beer Fest *
6/11 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz ^
6/12 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore ^
6/13 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel ^
6/14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
8/16-18 – Las Vegas @ Psycho Las Vegas
11/13 - Osaka, Japan @ Namba Hatch ~
11/14 - Tokyo, Japan @ Tsutaya O-East ~
11/15 - Tokyo, Japan @ Tsutaya O-East ~
* with BARONESS, ZEAL & ARDOR
^ with GOJIRA
~ with EMPEROR
GREEN CARNATION is new a new acquaintance, a band that was formed as early as in 1990, but after Terje "Tchort" Schei joined EMEPEROR for the "Darkside Eclipse" album shortly after, the band was put on hold until the debut album, "A Journey To The End Of The Night" was released in 2000. "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" followed in 2001, before the band took a change in direction, with "A Blessing In Disguise" (2003) and "The Quiet Offspring" (2005) before the band went all-acoustic with "Acoustic Verses" (2006). GREEN CARNATION established their cult status among progrock and avantgarde metal fans all over the world in the early 2000s with their 60-minute masterpiece Light of Day, Day of Darkness and have been critically acclaimed throughout their career for their artistic creativity and astonishing musical concepts.
That's about it, no more records, but the future looks bright.
On August 12, 2016, it was announced that EMEPEROR would be reunite again in 2017 for a special set of performances to celebrate their 20th anniversary second studio album "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk". So I guess more will come (:
On the bands homepage you can read following lines:
GREEN CARNATION will be available for festivals and special shows in the foreseeing future.
The band line up.
Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Tomas "Samoth" Haugen – guitars, drums, vocals
Kai Johnny "Trym Torson" Mosaker – drums
Light of Day, Day of Darkness - Live 2016
Kjetil Nordhus,
Tchort,
Stein Roger Sordal,
Michael Smith Krumins,
Bjørn Harstad,
Endre Kirkesola,
Jonathan Alejandro Perez.
Today's tune "Sweet Leaf" is taken form the bands last album "Acoustic Verses" (2006), enjoy!
