{"id":24924,"date":"2024-02-12T23:02:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T23:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/album-review-ihsahn-ihsahn\/"},"modified":"2024-02-12T23:02:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T23:02:39","slug":"album-review-ihsahn-ihsahn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/album-review-ihsahn-ihsahn\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: IHSAHN Ihsahn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>, chief composer and frontman of the legendary Norwegian black metal band <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/emperor\">Emperor<\/a><\/strong>, gives us his latest opus. This took some three years in the making.  Embracing sounds and influences from far beyond the world of black metal for some years now, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong> seemingly always leaves you guessing what he&#8217;s going to create next. This self-titled record is not unique in this sense as we find our favorite Telemark native son yet-again breaking new ground, while still holding true to his earlier roots.<\/p>\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-versus\">\n<p><versus-widget x-type=\"inline\" x-id=\"7531ec27-8a79-4b18-a301-e7e5c3355ed2\">Please enable Javascript to view this content<\/versus-widget><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong> being <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>, we get a record that challenges the listener. This self-titled release is not really black metal, it&#8217;s also not really prog. Instead, we have something that takes elements of both, but then gives us a really hefty helping of the orchestral. What <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong> does is brilliantly blend elements of different genres in a manner that few could actually achieve. Multiple layers and textures that are sweepingly beautiful yet, at the same time, viciously aggressive. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s distinct vocal, meshed with the elegance of the strings, is a profound juxtaposition that will grab you and make you feel both exhilerated and unsettled. This is ever-so-apparent in the track &#8220;Pilgrimage to Oblivion.&#8221; The song (and video) may make you feel uneasy, however, you remain entranced by the composition.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Ihsahn - PILGRIMAGE TO OBLIVION\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1WDCrgpKXaE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Tracks like &#8220;Twice Born&#8221; are angry and broodingly dark. While some of his more recent work might have made you think he has, perhaps, mellowed just a bit as he&#8217;s now in the midst of middle-age, songs like this one demonstrate that his interest in dark affect and provocation are still alive and well. &#8220;Twice Born&#8221; is a short cut with a lot to say in a short frame to say it. There&#8217;s no excess here nor on the rest of the record. If anything, I expected longer compositions that might have been more in line with what we find in the world of symphonic black metal. But <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong> shakes off any need for excess and gets right to the core of what he wants the listener to hear.<\/p>\n<p>The majestic &#8220;At the Heart of All Things Broken&#8221; is a powerful composition that features everything you probably already love about <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>. We get <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s signature &#8220;dirty&#8221; vocals, along with <strong>Einar Solberg<\/strong>&#8216;s clean signing as well. At over nine minutes, this almost sounds like something out of movie. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Ihsahn - TWICE BORN\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aDlwCo0HNXs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The production one the record is incredible as is the mix. The concept itself is also rather novel, with essentially two separate releases in one. As he tells us, &#8220;I approached the writing with the intent to present the material in its full-blown metal expression, but also to arrange the orchestral parts in such a way that they would work independently. \u00a0Somehow an attempt to write a soundtrack within the structures of the full production, allowing me to explore different, and sometimes contrasting, variations of essentially the same music.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The result is that there is a main story that is presented in the &#8220;full&#8221; metal version of the record, while there is a second story (just orchestral) the runs both concurrent the main story and as a stand alone distinct entity.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, this is another solid LP from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong>, though I must admit, I was hoping for some more music that focused more prominently on the integration of horns, which he did so well on songs like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xL0ZHYcuDe0&amp;ab_channel=IhsahnVEVO\">2019&#8217;s &#8220;Stridig.&#8221;<\/a> Nonetheless, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/tag\/ihsahn\">Ihsahn<\/a><\/strong> fans will certainly be more than satisfied with these songs.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/metalinjection.net\/reviews\/album-review-ihsahn-ihsahn\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ihsahn, chief composer and frontman of the legendary Norwegian black metal band Emperor, gives us his latest opus. This took some three years in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}