Ihsahn is a true living musical legend who helped shaped the modern symphonic sound of Black Metal with his work across the four albums Emperor produced between 1994 and 2001, particularly with their debut In The Nightside Eclipse which is perhaps the quintessential release of the genre. And although Emperor are still of course touring and Ihsahn has in the 2000’s released music with his Thou Shalt Suffer and Peccatum projects, the focus for the Norwegian musician has undoubtedly been on developing his solo career. 

This began with his debut record The Adversary in 2006, and has seen the artist dipping in and out of the roots of his Black Metal sound, and merging the style with elements of progressive rock with clean singing, often creating a theatrical-sounding metal style.   

As a solo artist his output has been prolific with seven albums to date, and his Fascination Street Sessions EP (Candlelight Records) is his first new music since the Telemark / Pharos EP’s in 2020. The record is born out of recording sessions with producer Jens Bogren (Opeth / Dimmu Borgir) at his Fascination Street Studio, and a musical production project created and filmed for URM Academy’s online educational program, delivering three tracks (two originals and one cover of ‘Dom Andra’ by Swedish Rockers Kent).  

‘The Observer’ opens with a rolling guitar riff which drops into a progressive rock melody with lush clean singing from Ihsahn’s keyboard player on the project Oystein Aadland. Blasts of Ihsahn’s blackened vocals interject the calm, and the blend of the melodic and the aggression works wonderfully and perhaps in a similar fashion to how fellow Norwegian Black Metal pioneers Enslaved, have evolved on their sound in recent years. 

As you would expect from Ihsahn, the song structure and overall composition is ridiculously complex and there are snippets of his ever-impressive shreddy guitar work throughout.  

‘Contorted Monuments’ is built around an addictive chugging riff, with the heavy vocals of Ihsahn more prominent as the track builds and drops with eruptions of his flashy lead guitar entwined within. The ‘Dom Andra’ cover closes the release on a thoroughly more ariose nature, with almost angelic- like singing throughout. 

Certainly, the two new Ihsahn songs show bursts of the composer at his best, and hopefully, these are merely a taster for more new material to come. 

Buy the EP here: 

https://ihsahn.lnk.to/FascinationStreetSessionsPresave

7 / 10

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