When Ihsahn released his lavish, shelf-threatening box set, The Hyperborean Collection, in 2021, it was a very clear and purposeful clearing of the decks. From Emperor’s four classic albums to solo triumphs like After and Àmr, the Norwegian has achieved more than most and could easily have slacked off for a bit, satisfied with a job well done. Instead, he’s made the most ambitious and extravagant album of his career.
A concept piece devoted to some hazily defined hero’s epic journey, Ihsahn is a game of two distinct halves. The first presents an astonishing splurge of new songs: still firmly within the Norwegian’s self-created wheelhouse of artful, restless black metal, but with full and florid orchestral elements throughout. Ihsahn has been mixing strings with metallic bombast for more than 30 years, but never with quite this much unabashed ingenuity and flair. Here, metal band and orchestra are woven seamlessly together, each surge of violins or brass adding colour, definition and extra muscle to these intricate songs’ wayward momentum.
