Ihsahn – Eremita (2012)

Ihsahn – Vegard Sverre Tveitan, born in 1975, in the town of Notodden, Norway, began playing piano at seven and guitar at ten and began recording songs shortly thereafter. He began his career at age thirteen as a member of what would become fledgling black metal crew Emperor. As a band, Emperor would both define and refine metal, pushing the boundaries of what was considered possible within the most arcane of art forms and taking some of the most adventurous and extreme music of all time to a huge global audience. With albums like seminal “In The Nightside Eclipse” – recorded when Ihsahn was only seventeen, and “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk”, Emperor obliterated all-comers and became one of the most revered metal bands in history. After the release of their final masterpiece, “Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise” in 2001, Ihsahn announced that the band were to part ways to enable himself and his colleagues to pursue new creative avenues.
He also played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel (real name Heidi S. Tveitan) until 2006 and has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, Zyklon-B and Hardingrock, and now devotes himself to his solo project, Ihsahn. “Eremita” – the latin for hermit – is the anticipated fourth solo album, which was released on June 18 by Candlelight Records.
Recorded and produced at Telemark’s Ivory Shoulder Studios, with additional tracking completed at Notodden’s Juke Joint Studio and Seattle’s Envisage Audio, Eremita was mixed by Jens Bogren (Opeth) at Fascination Street Studios in rebro, Sweden. Alongside Ihsahn, the album features performances from drummer Tobias rnes Andersen (Leprous), saxophonist Jrgen Munkeby (Shining-Norway), guitarist Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore), and vocalists Devin Townsend, Einar Solberg (Leprous) and Heidi S. Tveitan (Starofash). The album’s packaging has been created by award-winning Spanish designer Ritxi Ostariz.

I’m not actually a Black Metal fanatic, but hell yeah, I love several quality, edge cutter Black Metal artists. True, more then just listen and respect some of those artists, I really love Jørgen Munkeby and his murderous Shining, as I’m also a devoted Devin Townsend fan.
“Eremita” have the similar dark and “envelop pusher” sound as many of Devin’s projects, including Strapping Young Lad.
Not an easy piece to “chew and swallow”, but beneath the surface of madness and sonar turbulence is a shining, fabulous world to discover and once you will be sucked-in, you will be definitively hypnotized and will discover several dimensions and lots of hidden treasures.
This is Metal, but this isn’t the Metal in the classic/conservative sense of the genre, this is definitively genre defying, edge cutter and looking into the future Music, but it’s extremely intense, contorted, heavy in any sense, still complex and colorful.
Awesome is just not the word to express how deep, how disturbing, but how beautiful “Eremita” it is. A journey to another universe – once you’ll be in, you never wanna get out again. This is a dangerous album, my friend.

Tracklist:

01. Arrival (5:41)
02. The Paranoid (4:44)
03. Introspection (5:38)
04. The Eagle and the Snake (8:48)
05. Catharsis (4:51)
06. Something out there (5:09)
07. Grief (2:21)
08. The Grave (8:18)
09. Departure (7:06)
10. Recollection (5:39)

Ihsahn – Official Site
Mnemosyne Productions
Ihsahn @ MySpace
Ihsahn @ Last FM
Ihsahn @ Facebook