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IHSAHN
www.ihsahn.com
Another brilliant album from Ihsahn completes his trilogy starting with ‘The Adversary’ and moving through ‘AngL’ to ‘After’. If you have either of his first two solo albums then you know what to expect. There is still a residue feel of Emperor hiding amongst the music (especially ‘Prometheus’ era). Although opener ‘The Barren Lands’ brings a heavy feel to the album it is track two ‘A Grave Inversed’ that really cracks in with a fast heavy riff that shows if he wanted there’s still plenty of Black Metal left in Ihsahn. This album, however, has to be listened to in context. Basically, here we have one of the real luminaries of the extreme metal scene still not afraid to push boundaries within his own personal journey. The addition of Jørgen Munkeby on saxophone adds a certain mental jazz element to the album which, for me, works best when the sax is working with the riff rather than randomly against the music in a free-form jazz kind of way. It feels like an experiment that although on the whole is successful on many tracks such as ‘On The Shores’ could have just done with a bit more time putting together on tracks like ‘A Grave Inversed’. This is something that the rest of the album certainly isn’t lacking as the songs themselves are well crafted, evoking many different emotions, something Ihsahn has always been able to create since his early days with Emperor and through Peccatum. The playing of the new eight string guitar gives the album a certain heaviness and bottom end on tracks like ‘Frozen Lakes on Mars’, add to that the superb playing and you have a sharp album that although highly progressive has a very urgent edge to it with dreamy atmospheres making an appearance in songs such as ‘After’ and ‘Undercurrent’. As ever it will be interesting to see what Ihsahn does next. But for now we have ‘After’ and the promise of live appearances.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Candlelight Records
Album
AFTER
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Review by Paul Sims
RUNNING TIME:
53:01
RELEASE DATE:
25th Jan 2010
TRACK LISTING
1) The Barren Lands
2) A Grave Inversed
3) After
4) Frozen Lakes on Mars
5) Undercurrent
6) Austere
7) Heavens Black Sea
8) On The Shores
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Norway
"...here we have one of the real luminaries of the extreme metal scene still not afraid to push boundaries within his own personal journey."