Vegard Sverre Tveitan has long since become best known for his storied solo career under his artistic alias Ihsahn, after disbanding EMPEROR in the wake of their fantastic swan song, “The Discipline of Fire & Demise,” in 2001. While he has never entirely abandoned the black-metal aesthetic, some of his solo endeavors have traversed such abstract and murky avant-garde waters that I reckon not all black-metal enthusiasts have been thoroughly pleased. Ihsahn‘s sixth solo album, “Arktis,” released on April 8th, 2016, on the pedigree black-metal label, Candlelight Records, probably counted as one. While the album was not by far as bizarre as its predecessor, “Das Seelenbrechen,” which was an entirely atmospheric affair bordering on dark ambient, mixing those familiar, abrasive riffs and his signature, snarly black-metal vocals with a cacophony of styles, ranging from jazz to David Bowie-like art-pop might prove to quite a lot to ask from the listener, even in this day and age, let alone 10 years ago. Then, there are those weirdos, like me, who got drawn into black metal from the eclectic prog realm, so this sort of no-holds-barred metal conduct might sound very satisfying to the ear right from the get-go. I found Ihsahn’s solo material somewhere in between “AngL” (2008) and “Eremita” (2012), so I was already mentally prepared to like this album when it came out – and it didn’t let me down! Yeah, sure, such a wild cacophony of styles shouldn’t actually work, not even in theory, but Ihsahn made it sound like the most natural thing in the world, once again. Now, in retrospect, it seems an awful lot like this eclectic affair was merely a foretaste of the greatness that Ihsahn would achieve with his 2018 album “Ámr.” All the elements are already present on this album, but as good as “Arktis” was, “Ámr” went even “one louder”.
The game is set afoot with a steamrolling riffage, entitled ”Disassembled” and featuring Einar Solberg of LEPROUS on clean vocals as usual. The main riff sounds somewhat similar to the opener on “Eremita,” which obviously was a nice introduction to this album for me back in the day. The chorus is adorned with haunting vocal layers, courtesy of Ihsahn and Solberg. So, the album doesn’t pull any punches, but hits a home run right away. The only thing hinting at Ihsahn‘s black-metal legacy are those snarly vocals in the verses; the song is almost like one of your typical mainstream metal bangers with some nice symphonic prog flourishes sprinkled here and there. I mean, almost. Those serpentine guitar riffs, Ihsahn‘s snarls, and Solberg‘s clean vocals, obviously, make this whole endeavor something far more interesting.
Next up, “Mass Darkness” resonates with a tad more evil aura. Once again, the verses subtly suggest black metal, albeit from the avant-garde fringes of the genre, and the chorus gears up on – wait, what? – power metal. The song features Matt Heafy from TRIVIUM, so maybe the vibe has rubbed off from there? Yeah, it’s not exactly commonplace to mention power metal and black metal in the same sentence, but I guess, in this case, I simply have to. I reckon what initially attracted me to Ihsahn‘s music was his trademark devil-may-care attitude, which becomes manifest in songs such as this. Some artists do what they can, Ihsahn does what he pleases – and it’s awesome! Of course, it helps a lot that he possesses such a diabolical knack for both picking collaborators and writing mind-melting riffs. By now, it should be common knowledge that if there’s something Ihsahn writes particularly well, it is this type of catchy and uptempo metal bangers seasoned with his signature avant-garde eccentricism to a degree.
Speaking of which, one of the best riffs of this selection has to be the off-kilter synth ostinato in “South Winds.” It resonates with some delicious and evil NINE INCH NAILS vibes, especially with those hissed and menacing vocals in the verses. Even though the NIN album ”With Teeth” had been released in 2005 already, I was still listening to it a lot when this beast came out, so I couldn’t help but compile a playlist mixing both of these albums back in the day – and lo’ and behold! It worked like a dream! The sentiment is not that different, regardless of the seemingly disparate genres. “Arktis” employs electronic elements rather sparingly, but when it does, those glitches and synth bleeps are employed to maximum impact. The piano-driven riffer, “Frail,” for example, is essentially an impressionistic piano riffer with occasional synth bursts, but damn! Those synth lines are placed just perfectly.
Another standout track, “In the Vaults”, has been likened to David Bowie‘s art-pop endeavors, but I’m hearing a lot of classical influences as well. Okay, the vibe could stem from something as innocuous as the use of harmonic minor in the melody – it is a scale that tends to make everything sound like those vintage classical-music bangers. Then again, why not use it if it works? It is one of the oldest heavy-metal scales, anyway, because it sounds so beautifully sad – and we metalheads like to feel sad through music. It’s cathartic, in a way, and I guess that’s quite an apt term for this particular album as a whole, too – a case in point: “Until I Too Dissolve,” a track mixing 1980s-tinted hard-rock riffs and Ihsahn‘s signature quirks. Yes, you read that correctly: the riffs are straight from the VAN HALEN playbook circa 1984. At this point, your ”tr00 kvlt”-black-metal brigade probably had a stercore ictum.
So, yeah, I reckon there aren’t that many contemporary metal albums that mix VAN HALEN riffs and symphonic black-metal flourishes à la DIMMUR BORGIR – yeah, there’s some of those, too, in the middle section of ”Pressure.” Maybe that’s why I fucking love this album! To top it all off, there’s also some smooth saxophone ear-candy, courtesy of long-time Ihsahn collaborator Jørgen Munkeby from THE SHINING, that Norwegian avant-garde black-jazz oddity, not the namesake-ish outfit from the Swedish black-metal scene. The song title says it all – “Crooked Red Line” could convey the idea of the proverbial line separating different styles in Ihsahn‘s music: rather than being a thin and evasive line, it is more likely a crooked one, snatching a little bit of everything for the ride along the way. I guess we’re just accustomed to calling Ihsahn‘s music black metal, because let’s face it: it’s something much more than that – like introspective, emotional journeys through unexplored sonic territory.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Disassembled
- Mass Darkness
- My Heart Is Of the North
- South Winds
- In the Vaults
- Until I Too Dissolve
- Pressure
- Frail
- Crooked Red Line
- Celestial Violence
Lineup
Ihsahn – vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass
Tobias Ørnes Andersen – drums
Jørken Munkeby – saxophone on track 9
Matt Heafy – guest vocals on track 2
Robin Ognedal – additional guitars on track 3
Nicolay Svennæs Tangen – additional keyboards and organ on track 3
Einar Solberg – guest vocals on tracks 1 and 10
Label
Candlelight Records
