We’ve been hearing about Trivium frontman Matt Heafy’s black metal side project Mrityu since at least 2013 when he revealed that Emperor frontman (and solo artist) Ihsahn would be producing the effort, a curious collaboration if ever there was one.

That project has been gestating ever since, with both men often asked about it in interviews. And still, six years later, we’re not quite there yet… but we’re definitely closer. Speaking to Jamey Jasta on the Hatebreed vocalist’s podcast, Heafy had this to say about the album’s progress, which will now also reportedly include some additional special guests from the black metal community:

“Now, Ihsahn is producing my black metal project. He’s co-written several songs – we’re finally kind of piecing that together, we’ve got eight or nine songs written on it. He’s producing the whole thing, co-writing some of it. “I’m going to try to get a hero of mine in black metal on every single song. So, Ihshahn’s going to do some vocals, Nergal’s going to do a song; Gaahl, I think, is about to do a song, hit up some other people.”

That certainly sounds fun, right? Heafy’s been very, very open about his fanboy relationship with Emperor — which continues elsewhere in the interview — so I can only imagine how amped he is on the whole thing. Looking forward to hearing it when it’s finally ready, which from the sounds of it won’t be until 2020 at the earliest.

[via Ultimate Guitar]