“It’s Been In The Talks For A Long Time”

A black metal project featuring Ihsahn, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, and Behemoth frontman Nergal has been in the talks for years. Way back in 2018, Halford told Noisey that he talked with Nergal and Ihsahn about working together, though nothing concrete has ever happened.

“The black metal project!” said Halford in the 2018 interview. “It keeps being about to lift the launchpad, but it never quite gets anywhere. I met Nergal from Behemoth recently, and I said to Nergal, ‘You know I love your kind of music. I would love to kind of put my toe into the water and see what would happen.’

He added: “So now I’ve got these two very nebulous but I hope at some point very real opportunities to do something with Nergal, and still something to with Ihsahn.”

So what happened? Have all three legends forgotten about the project and moved on with life? Not Ihsahn, who specifically mentioned he’s still down to record with Halford and Nergal in a brand new interview with Metal Injection.

“It all depends,” said Ihsahn. “I still hope – and that’s of course not outside of metal – of course I still that me and Rob Halford and Nergal will manage to do something together at one point. It’s been in the talks for a long time. That’s of course, a bucket list thing for sure. As for other artists, I would love to – as I told you before – have a go at making soundtracks or anything for media, I think would be very interesting. Then again, the world is full of composers.”

Ihsahn also revealed in a 2020 interview with Ultimate Guitar that the idea between himself and Halford doing a black metal band goes all the way back to the start of the millenium.

“This is something that Rob started suggesting already back in 2000 or 2001,” said Ihsahn. “That was the shock… I think that was in 2001 that he just suddenly called me at home. [Laughs] I think he’s been a huge Emperor fan since the very beginning.”