New Ihsahn coming this May :cigar:
Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 05:26
01. Lend Me The Eyes Of The Millenia
02. Arcana Imperii
03. Sámr
04. One Less Enemy
05. Where You Are Lost And I Belong
06. In Rites Of Passage
07. Marble Soul
08. Twin Black Angels
09. Wake
As with all of Ihsahn's solo albums to date, "Ámr" possesses its own unique atmosphere; a palpable sense of tension and unease that infuses even the album's most melodic moments with heightened drama and otherworldly menace. But despite its often-claustrophobic feel, this is very much an album of beautifully crafted and shrewdly arranged songs. Although as dark and intense as anything he has conjured before, both the depth of sonic texture and the clarity of his overarching vision are more impressive than ever.
"Knowing that the form would be somewhat similar to what I did on the previous album, and given that I write stuff in a certain way, I wanted to change the wrapping this time," Ihsahn notes. "So instead of going with my go-tos of strings and orchestration, I focused on analog synths and more in-your-face sounds. It goes back to the beginning of EMPEROR, when we brought in strings and horns inspired by orchestral movie scores by John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, but at the same time we loved all those eerie synth soundtracks of, for example, John Carpenter's 'Halloween'. I've also been listening to some contemporary R&B and hip-hop stuff with those deep, deep 808s. It's just somehow darker than a lot of metal or black metal. It has a depth and an energy to it that I find captivating, so I wanted to explore those arrangement styles as well."
Another bold stride into uncharted territory, Ihsahn's seventh solo album is the legendary Norwegian's most eclectic and challenging to date. Morphing fluidly from mellifluous art rock ambience to vicious extreme metal, covering all points in between, the likes of grandiloquent opener "Lend Me The Eyes Of The Millennia" and the wild, melodic melancholy of "Sámr" blend seamlessly with ornate, progressive metal monoliths like "In Rites Of Passage" and the immaculate, climactic "Wake". Drenched in evocative synthesizers and brimming with skewed-but-irresistible riffs, "Ámr" is both Ihsahn's most accessible record to date and his most extreme departure from his black metal roots.
"Every album I intend to make the darkest album ever," Ihsahn says. "I never set out to make anything more melodic or accessible. However, growing up on '80s metal, plus having a rather wide range of musical influences, I often end up with quite contrasting elements. This is my seventh solo album, so in the end it really comes down to methods and perspectives that keep me exited and fired up about what I'm working on. If I'm not excited about it, I can't expect anybody else to be!"
His last one, Arktis, was quite interesting. Weird at times but pretty cool