Polyphia are making a “heavy” new album with System Of A Down and Babymetal

Polyphia guitarist Tim Henson performing live in 2023 — (Image credit: Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

Polyphia have teased a “heavy” new album featuring System Of A Down singer Serj Tankian and Babymetal.

Guitarist Tim Henson offers a glimpse of what the Plano, Texas four-piece are cooking up to Guitar World, saying that where latest album Remember That You Will Die explored multiple genres, their next effort will zero in on metal.

“It’s heavy,” he says. “That’s exciting for us, and I think last year was really eye-opening for us in terms of how we should start composing for the live performance.

“Playing a nylon-string to 80,000 people is a little like… when you think of a nylon-string, you think of a dude in a coffee shop, right? So, it’s a little disconnect there. We’re excited to really hone that in and really make the music bigger for that kind of audience now.”

Henson adds that there will be plenty of eight-string guitar. “We’re just making new guitars that don’t exist for the sole purpose of writing something really, really cool with it, so that if you want to learn it, you’re gonna have no choice but to buy that guitar!”

Moving on to guest spots, he continues: “We have one with Serj from System Of A Down and we just finished a second Babymetal collab – that’s for their record, though, and we’re working on one to send them for our record. So hopefully we’ll make that one come to fruition.”

Polyphia collaborated with Babymetal over the summer, joining the J-metal icons for a performance of their song Brand New Day at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo in June.

As for Tankian, he’s a noted Polyphia fan. He told The Jesea Lee Show last summer that a friend introduced him to the quartet’s music and that he found them “really interesting”.

Polyphia are no strangers to star collaborations. Remember That You Will Die had songs featuring Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno and superstar guitarist Steve Vai, among others.

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.