Ihsahn – Ihsahn (Review)

This is the eighth album from Ihsahn, a legendary black, progressive, and avant-garde metal artist.

Ihsahn has never lacked talent or ambition, but on this latest release he has really outdone himself. Ihsahn offers up two album’s worth of material. Each is 49 minutes in length – one is a progressive metal album with orchestral layering, while the other is a fully orchestral version.

This is an impressive release. The metal version of the album boasts luscious orchestration that is tightly woven around the metallic parts; try to tease the metal threads out on their own, and they’d begin to unravel and would become all the lesser for it. However, the reverse is not true. The orchestral elements have been designed so that they not only enrich the rest of the song’s components on the metal side, but can stand 100% independently on their own merits, which is spectacularly displayed on the orchestral side. This is no mean feat, and a testament to the abilities of the artist behind this work.

The songs on the metal side are contemporary avant-garde progressive metal pieces that incorporate the artist’s black metal background indelibly into themselves, while still revelling in a stylistic freedom that’s cinematic in scope. Ihsahn’s inimitable screams are joined by his soaring clean singing, cresting atop the idiosyncratic compositions like either predators of ethereal harbingers.

Engaging and intricate, Ihsahn explores compelling hooks, quirky character, blackened intensity, and atmospheric resplendence. It’s a varied approach, and well-rounded, making for an accomplished album that sounds very complete. There’s immense power here, regardless of how aggressive or calm the music might be. Despite what any given part of any given song is doing, the artist imbues everything with heartfelt emotion and professional craftsmanship.

The orchestral versions mirror this and expand upon it, revealing a different journey for the listener to navigate and explore. They’re remarkably potent creations. Freed from the confines of the surrounding metallic frameworks, they breathe and expand in different ways, finding new expressions of their previously partially occluded selves.

Ihsahn is an impressive album. Each version offers something different, a world of its own to explore. Both build presence and potency over time, growing inexorably in power and stature until they’re all you can see for miles around. Ihsahn has created an immense soundscape that reveals its true secrets only upon repeated excursions to its bountiful lands.

Essential listening.