Ihsahn – Ihsahn
Ihsahn – Ihsahn
Candlelight Records
Release Date: 16/02/2024
Running Time: 48:37 (Metal Version)
Review by Rory Bentley
9.5/10
There’s no better feeling as a music fan than when your long-established favourites hit the bullseye on a new release. When a veteran artist puts out a truly great release with no caveats or rose-tinted glasses, I just want to start a ‘you’ve still got it!’ chant like I’m watching an old wrestler hit a spectacular move that belies their advanced years. Because I’m a nerd. What we have here from former Emperor frontman turned Avante-Metal mentalists Ihsahn is an album that could well go down as his definitive artistic statement.
Ihsahn operates in a rarified sphere of artistic alchemy shared only with the likes of Devin Townsend and Mike Patton. Prolific in output, quality and eclecticism, Ihsahn doesn’t do bad releases. He doesn’t even do mid releases, each record is as safe a bet of classy, innovative heavy music as one could possibly imagine. On this self-titled, sprawling double release, the man who put the cinematic drama into Black Metal has set about creating an opus that boils his core musical DNA down to its purest strain. The result of which is a combination of warm (or icy cold) familiarity and a breathtakingly new sense of scope and grandeur. Strap in mates, this is going to be a long one.
The album consists of a full-on Symphonic Black Metal disc, heaving with scything guitars, ballistic drums and Ihsahn’s impressively versatile combination of hellish shrieking and disarmingly smooth crooning, and a fully orchestral version, which has a completely different mix. Initially I was a little bummed that he’d pulled the old ‘instrumental disc 2’ trick of many a bonus digipack, but the mix is so different and engaging on the orchestral disc that it really is an entity unto itself. In what is actually a surprisingly apt artistic comparison, this approach reminds me of the ‘Dark Side’ and ‘Light Side’ mix of Prog Pop maverick Peter Gabriel’s 2023 comeback album. It is incredible how a mix can create such a different piece of art with the same source material, and listeners who purchase the full 2 disc experience should have no fear of being shortchanged.
Focusing on the more conventional (relatively speaking-this album’s mental!) first disk, the album is broadly an amalgamation of cinematic bluster, angular Prog/Black Metal muscle and serpentine vocals. After going full John Williams on the stirring overture of ‘Cervus Venator’, the battering dums and juddering riff attack of ‘The Promethean Spark’ proceeds to give a skin-flaying elevator-pitch of Ihsahn’s career. It is grisly and demonic, yet crystal clear and surgically precise in a manner that oozes class and menace in equal measure. The chorus is a big melodic singalong but the rest of the song is a disorienting attack like a kvlt David Lynch soundtrack being performed by Hans Zimmer channelling Lemmy. If this doesn’t sound up your street, now’s the time to tap out, cos it ain’t gonna get any easier.
‘Pilgrimage to Oblivion’ is perhaps the most Emperor-adjacent song on the record, kicking in with some scintillating tremolo picking and Ihsahn’s patented ungodly gurgle it has all the regal yet destructive grandiosity of the band’s final record, and arguably adds further weight to the argument that Emperor would have just ended up sounding like the Ihsahn discography had they stayed together. But this record is more than just an excellent retread of past glories.
The pacing of the record is perfect, with interludes like ‘Anima Extraneae’ knitting the piece together. ‘Blood Trails To Love’ offers a stunning chorus after a deeply unsettling build up that got me surprisingly emotional and provided the perfect lead into the twin epics of ‘Hubris and Blue Devils’ and the stunning ‘At The Heart of All Things Broken’. Both provide a really strong finale to the record and feel earned after more accessible cuts like ‘The Distance Between Us’ and ‘Twice Born’ have prepped your ears for something truly epic. Some fans may prefer the more eclectic, wider genre-hopping of records like “Arktis” and “Eremita”, or the headlong dive into the avante garde that is “Das Seelenbrechen”, but it is difficult to make a case for anything in the Ihsahn discography nailing its intended concept and goals so masterfully.
The grand, orchestral, sweeping approach to Metal is a style that suits Ihsahn down to the ground and in years to come this may be looked upon as his finest work. I’ve had this album over a month and I’m still unpeeling its many layers, but perhaps the most striking thing is it’s sent me back on a major Emperor kick, and despite revisiting one of the finest discographies in Extreme music, there is nothing on those hallowed LPs that makes this latest offering seem out of place or inferior in any way. You’re looking at an album of the year contender from one of the greatest to ever do it and that is something we should not take for granted.
Ihsahn- The Distance Between Us (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
TRACKLISTING:
01. Cervus Venator
02. The Promethean Spark
03. Pilgrimage to Oblivion
04. Twice Born
05. A Taste of the Ambrosia
06. Anima Extraneae
07. Blood Trails to Love
08. Hubris and Blue Devils
09. The Distance Between Us
10. At the Heart of All Things Broken
11. Sonata Profana
LINE-UP:
Ihsahn- Bass, Keyboard, Guitars, Vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
