Ihsahn - AngL

Ancient1

Ihsahn is streaming two new tracks from the upcoming AngL album:

http://www.myspace.com/ihsahnmusic

Dunno about you guys, but I love it! Hungus, you'll dig this.

I think Misanthrope is just incredible.

Here's a recent interview where he talks about the new tunes:

http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/candleweb/redesign/candle_ihsahn_interview.htm

Karl Hungus

Ancient1 wrote: »

Hungus, you'll dig this.

Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. I wasn't too thrilled by his previous solo album, it was too simple and straightforward, and this is sounding very much the same.

For me, Promethius was one of the greatest albums of all time, it was just so far beyond anything else at the time, and I don't think anything has come close since. It was utter chaos at times, highly innovative and original, but with Ihsahn's solo stuff, it's just been a gigantic step backwards. I'm listening to the song Misanthrope, and thinking to myself, it's a remarkably simple song with a basic melody you could hum along to running through it. Where has the creativity gone? It sounds like he's just copying Celtic Frost and King Diamond, and doing exactly nothing they haven't done 25 years earlier. Emancipation sounded promising at the start, but it was the same basic little song structure...

I think coming from someone who made some of the most challenging, interesting, and intelligent music I'd heard in my life, it's sorely disappointing. It's like as if David Lynch came out and directed a cheesy summer blockbuster.

Ancient1

Prometheus is a masterpiece without a doubt, but I never, as a rule, compare bands' albums. There is just no point, IMO. Artists grow and develop as people too, and their expression consequently has to change as well. I look at each album for what it is. You can't expect them to be stuck in the past or in the same mode, no matter how much you liked their past work.

Ihsahn is a huge inspiration to me, both as a musician and a person. I think he's the most talented, educated and intelligent musician in his genre, a true visionary, so when he's trying to say something through his music, I listen and try to appreciate it for what it is, not for what I think it should have been because of his legacy.

Take Enslaved, for example. What they're doing now couldn't be further removed from what they've done in the early days, but they're hugely respected now. They matured musically and changed for the better.
I think what Ihsahn is doing on his solo albums (excluding Peccatum) is a natural progression to Emperor (him being the main, if not only, composer).

There are only 2 bands that I can think of right now that have never changed and it's perhaps better that way because they're just too good at what they do in their own unique way, and that's Unleashed and Grave. So apart from a handful of bands like that, I actually expect to hear change.

By the way, read this and follow the link to MetalKult. There's a tour of Ihsahn's Symphonique studio, but the damn thing isn't loading for me right now.