IHSAHN (STUDIO)

There is no doubt that Vegard Sverre Tveitan is one of the most important musicians to ever come out of Norway, and if he had just retired after Emperor originally broke up in 2001 his legacy would have been huge. Of course, that was never going to happen, and as well as reforming Emperor a few times he has released solo albums which see him continuing to push music in new directions, although he has always maintained a close connection with his black metal roots. Here we find him combining black metal with orchestra yet ensuring that that the orchestra could still work on its own without lyrics or crunching guitars, producing two albums which are obviously closely linked (same songs and track listing) yet are also very different indeed.

This is the studio version where he was joined by Tobias Ørnes Andersen and Tobias Solbakk on drums and percussion, with Ihsahn's son Angell Solberg Tveitan adding additional percussion and violins by Chris Baum. Ihsahn has always had a wonderfully melodic vocal style when he is not pursuing a black metal style, while his wall of sound and refusal to conform to anyone's expectations always makes me think of Devin Townsend. He may have some guests, but for the most part this is 100% Ihsahn, and it is no wonder that it has taken him the six years since 'Àmr' to get this out. It is massively complex and complicated, and there are plenty of times when one thinks of this as being Emperor being taken to the logical extremes. There has always been plenty of melody within that band, with influences from the likes of John Williams, and here he is producing a black metal soundtrack for a film which exists only in his mind. It is bombastic, huge, massively over the top and hugely enjoyable. It is progressive metal in a whole new form, and where others have tried to combine metal or rock with orchestra and have normally failed, this is a triumph where the two opposing forces combine to make something quite special.