Ihsahn is very diverse. His first two albums were a mix of black and prog; to consecutive ones were more prog and had a sax; Das Seelenbrechen sounded as its title, being avant-garde, half-improvised black ambient mess (I love it); and later he went more into classic heavy metal sound with modern pop electronica on top of it. Choose what you want!
I checked this one out a long time ago so I don't know how good my reaction is to it. First of all I had no clue who Ihsahn and second I didn't have a lot of experience with heavier music. I kinda recall loving the atmosphere though. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mVRmxhk-WcM.html
If I had remembered that I would have linked the backup link. You can watch it here drive.google.com/file/d/1r1OGCgyxPjJoCHPAhwOBcUDreOXDiM9j/view?usp=sharing And as Thoughts of Decay stated, I have a link in my Linktree that will take you to all of my blocked videos if you're curious about what else you might be missing.
This is one of my favorite Ihsahn tracks from my favorite album of his solo material. As good as it is I'm still of the opinion he hasn't bettered his work with Emperor, especially on Prometheus, but I do think this is a good example of what his solo material sounds like. Basically a kind of avant-garde, progressive metal... I hesitate to even call it black metal anymore because it really isn't, despite the fact that's the genre Ihsahn came from and helped to pioneer. Pretty much love everything about this, from the melodic guitar lines, to all of the tempo and vocal shifts, to the syncopated rhythms, to the solo, to all of the sax embellishments. Cool thing is that most of Eremita (the album) is on par with this. As far as the week's theme goes I would very much say that Ihsahn's vocals are immediately recognizable. I'd never mistake him for Manson, though I've heard most everything from both.
Certaily agree! Personally there's more for me in Ihsahn's solo work than Emperor overall. Emperor did make a stonger finish than start to match someone like me who often prefer my heavy more intricate/unpredictable/versatile (aka progressive) and melodic 😊
@@progperljungman8218 The funny thing is that most people would disagree with both of us that Emperor finished on a high note, since their first two albums are among THE cornerstones of symphonic black metal (and black metal, in general). I actually really like those first two albums despite not being a fan of most black metal, though I do wish they had been better produced!
@@jonathanhenderson9422 Yeah, thing is that the early stuff is much better sounding in live recordings from latter day reunion performances (or when I got to see them perform In the Nightside Eclipse in it's entirety in 2014)
so far I've only heard Ihsahn with combination with Leprous's vocalist - and I loved it, but this is actually eye opening. very interesting and very proggy. Would love to see a review of The Ocean - "Permian: The Great Dying". (annnnd now I see you actually reviewed it once. going there right now!)
Two requests. First is Carach Angren - Funerary Dirge Of A Violinist. A symphonic black metal band not too different from Dimmu which you may find interesting. Another is Nile - Kafir! Yes the exclamarion mark is part of the song name, I am not shouting at you. 😅 A band that people constantly argue about if they are Brutal Death Metal or Technical Death Metal (I think they have their toes in both) but they do have a massive hard on for everything Egyptian and Middle Eastern, lyrics revolve around mythologies of those areas. *Edit* not part of the theme of this week. Just a generic request.
I hate to admit it Bryan, but you're totally wrong! On one crucial point. But first I want to give credits, because you're first and foremost not only right about most things but also giving me new insights and perspectives on a song that I love! E.g. I hadn't even noticed the suble "harmony harsh vocals". Now the harsh bit... I'm pretty sure Ihsahn's spectacular kinda gurgling and (mono)tonal harshes aren't anywhere near anything Marilyn Manson does. Manson sings (mostly) using his vocal cords and his singing is imo closer to David Bowie's (though more raw and aggressive and "cold" most of the time) than Ihsahn's. The only thing I can think of (I'm far from well versed on Manson though) that is remotely close to Ihsahn's harsh voice is something like the "We're all stars now" line in "The Dope Show" - but that isn't even the same singing technique, just a bit tampered monotonal voice (that honestly anyone could do, just not as good). I advice you to go listen to a bit of Manson and Ihsahn back to back and I think you'll reconsider. It might be though, that you are very well versed on Manson and could make me reconsider by recommending songs or even album(s) were your point actually is proven. I do think Manson is a man of many voices but I never heard "that one". But all in all a very enjoyable reaction and analysis! (though missing the theme point 😉)
Yeah, it's the harsh vocals that made me think of Manson and I concede that it's possible I'm remembering things wrong. When it comes to Manson I've only heard Dope Show and that was a long time ago.
I guess Ihsahn's harsh tone has something similar to Manson's clean tone lol, some specific frequencies are up. For this reason, maybe Manson's screams are also a liiitle bit similar to Ihsahn's (e.g. "Fight" chant in The Fight Song or something from TGAOG). But yes, their voices and techniques are quite different in general.
Never heard of this band. I kinda liked it. Sometimes I don't always appreciate on a first listen. This also applies to my favorite bands when they come out with new material. Then I give it another chance and end up loving it. I thought I heard some familiar sounds, including Manson too. Idk what it was though. Will listen again and try to figure it out.
I’ve always found his harsh vocals to be interesting. I don’t necessarily think he sounds *that* close to Manson, but they sit in a similar place vocally, where they both sell anguish really well with their vocals. There’s a track somewhere where Ihsahn has sort of a growl-off with Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) that doesn’t really land well (for me) because their harshes sit so differently. If Ihsahn wrote a song about the last survivor of a village destroyed by plague, leaving his village behind in search of somewhere he could live now that everything was lost, his vocals would slot right in; whereas, a lot of harsh vocalists sell more power and energy. Maybe that’s what got this recommended for you, that he’s atypical for extreme metal vocalists in that his harsh vocals don’t really feel “powerful”?
If you’re ever wanting to hear another example of a song where the music underneath a solo shifts dramatically, give Devin Townsend’s Deep Peace a look. That song takes one hell of a journey over the course of its solo, and I can’t recall ever really hearing anything like it.
