Ihsahn: IHSAHN (2024, Candlelight Records)

It’s been a long time since Ihsahn turned the page with Emperor. As the musician and artist himself has recognized on several occasions throughout his career, it would be ridiculous to return to the black metal circle from which he left at the time to offer something that does not generate enough incentive for listeners and for the musician himself. This decision is something that I myself, as a lover of his music, share in its entirety and deeply respect, especially if it implies that Ihsahn follows his own free will to give free rein to his imagination and in this way is able to deliver music with which he constantly breaks all barriers.

Like his previous solo works, IHSAHN is no exception. The famous musician has managed to bring together a crazy amount of ideas in the eleven songs that give life to his eighth studio album, which he has titled after his own pseudonym, a declaration of intentions on the part of the Norwegian artist. Ihsahn’s own splendid work is masterfully balanced by an authentic musical display of string instruments by violinist Chris Baum (Leprous, Death Tribe) and percussionists Tobias Øymo Solbakk (In Vain, Black Void), Tobias Ørnes Andersen (Shining) and Angell Solberg Tveitan (Ibaraki).

Cervus Venator is in charge of welcoming us to the IHSAHN universe with a melancholic introduction that at times sheds some hope to start abruptly with the peaceful and melodic The Promethean Spark where Ihsahn masterfully combines clean vocals and his aggressive growls , a very effective mix that at times borders on perfection thanks to some catchy choruses in which Chris Baum‘s violin takes center stage. We quickly fall completely into Ihsahn’s musical trap with the powerful and furious Pilgrimage To Oblivion, the first preview we heard of the album and which quickly became one of my favorite songs of 2023.

Pilgrimage To Oblivion manages to subtly evoke Ihsahn’s old work in Emperor, bridging the gap with works such as Prometheus – The Discipline Of Fire And Demise (2001, Candlelight Records), the aforementioned band’s last studio album. This is probably one of the best songs on the entire album where the power and melody of the violins match perfectly with the aggressive rhythms of Ihsahn who is once again in charge of the guitars, voices, bass and keyboards of the album, letting drummer Tobias Ørnes Andersen is in charge of the exceptional work behind the decks. Pilgrimage To Oblivion serves as a prelude to the apocalyptic Twice Born that follows, one of the best songs the Norwegian artist has composed to date.

Twice Born is perfection made into music, a recital of forceful violins and guitars in which Ihsahn returns with his aggressive tone of voice while spitting out the lyrics of the song one by one: “Mortal womb by fire scorned, in death conceived… Twice born!” This is perhaps my favorite of an album that, despite the fact that the year has just begun, I venture to classify as one of the biggest releases of 2024. This is something I can say with confidence after discovering one of the album’s hidden gems, A Taste Of The Ambrosia, a slow and mournful song with which Ihsahn balances the balance between aggressiveness and sobriety.

The brief interlude Anima Extraneae, very much in line with the austere Cervus Venator, prepares the listener for what is to come in Blood Trails To Love, a composition with which Ihsahn restrains himself but which on a vocal level makes the most of his vocal qualities. You have unsuspected limits. The opposite happens with Hubris And Blue Devils, a song where the guitars and violins are the main protagonists that demonstrate once again Ihsahn’s versatility as a musician and as a vocalist. I think the way of combining the guitar plucks with the particular violin score, including the percussion of Tobias Øymo Solbakk as well as that of Tobias Ørnes Andersen and Angell Solberg Tveitan, is very successful.

The Distance Between Us faces the final stretch of the album with a certain peace and at the same time that mysticism that populates the entire album from its first bars. This is the third and last preview that was published from IHSAHN where its composer manages to bring together all the attractive elements of the album, synthesizing his proposal to the maximum in a song that at all times makes us remember better times whose path expands even more in the sad and melancholic At The Heart Of All Things Broken, the longest song on the entire album. Ihsahn uses the violin once again at At The Heart Of All Things Broken as a recurring tool to create an atmosphere of affliction that is reinforced with some skipped guitar plucks that, accompanied by some successful keyboards, explode majestically as the song progresses. Ihsahn resumes his characteristic growls during the central part of At The Heart Of All Things Broken that little by little fades away as when life comes to an end before saying goodbye completely with the instrumental outro Santa Profana that brilliantly closes the album.

IHSAHN thus climbs to the podium of the Norwegian musician and composer’s discography with complete ease, reaffirming once again that Ihsahn‘s music knows no limits and is capable of anything without breaking a sweat. If anyone is left wanting more, you can always listen to the orchestral version of the album, which in itself is genuine in every sense.