Having spent decades waving off the possibility of Emperor ever recording a new album, frontman Ihsahn now says he is open to the idea.
The Norwegian black metal heroes released four studio albums, the last of which was 2001's Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise.
While they have reunited for some shows over the years, the band haven't recorded anything since then and Ihsahn has enjoyed a successful solo career.
The singer has been adamant that he had no desire to record new Emperor music, saying that it would be "absolutely pointless" and almost guaranteed to be a "disappointment."
But in a new interview with Heavy, he says he would consider it in the right circumstances.
Ihsahn says: "That's a question that has come up a lot. And I think it's easy to answer and it's kind of hard at the same point. Because to start with, for 20 years, I've been, like, 'No way.' I've seen no point in doing that. But it's always come up. And it's something that me and Samoth have to relate to. And sometimes we touch on it more like just by coincidence.
"From my perspective, and I can only speak for myself, so far it's been very hard to see where we would pick up The legacy of Emperor is that we never compromised. I think that is what appealed to the people who got into this music, that it was not made in a certain way for people to like it. It was just made totally without compromise, and people picked up on it probably because of that honesty.
"If we were to make another Emperor record, should we make something that sounded like the old stuff? Which would be easy, but it wouldn't really be true. Or should we pick up where we left off with Prometheus, with me doing more and more experimental stuff.
"I'm not sure that would be what the fans would want. In the end, what would be the motivation outside any commercial things? And I think for it to happen, we would have to come to a place where our ideas aligned and that it felt right to do, in the same way that the shows have come together and we are now in a place where it feels right to do, where everybody's kind of in the same place.
So, before... immediately no. But if circumstances would have it that we would connect creatively and that we could create something on the same pure kind of values that we did in the first place, then I would be open to do that."
While Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise was created almost entirely by the frontman, their debut In The Nightside Eclipse was more collaborative and is seen as the record that burst the black metal scene wide open.
