Ihsahn – After

Releasedate: 25-01-2010; Label: Candlelight Records
By: Sabine van Gameren

Ihsahn, a Norwegian man known from Emperor and other projects, is now back with his third solo album. “After” is the third album in the initial trilogy.

“After” is a long awaited album for fans of the earlier work that came from the hands from Ihsahn, whether it be the records of Emperor, Peccatum or any other project.
With this album he shows an experimental side of him. The album contains different adventurous steps to create a little bit of uniqueness in the scene of extreme metal. Riffs are often placed in the music on such a way that they get a lot of attention, but backed up decent and not on the most standard drumming way that is often heard when the band wants to give space to the guitarist. It goes a bit further and that makes the album exciting to listen to. Hear rhythms that are a little teasing, and then… then there is a saxophone. Jorgen Munkeby (Shining) takes care of this and it adds an extra dimension to the music. Ihsahn seems to be a little more hold back on his vocals in this album in the way that there is a lot of space for the instruments. When his time comes to gives voice to the words it is with a lot of power and strength. Clean vocals are coming out perfectly, but that is what you could hear in the previous releases as well. Also known from what has been done before is the bass that is quite in the background.

Ihsahn brought an album that is maybe not that extreme as people might expect when hearing his name, but with this music he will attract a wider audience. Katatonia fans (let’s say the fans from their latest albums) that are not afraid of some more extreme sound will adopt “After” without any hesitation. The trilogy is ended, but hopefully this is not the end of Ihsahn. Not that anything points in that direction at this point, “After” just makes you hungry, greedy and addicted, make you feel like a junky. You want more and more and even more.

Line Up:
Ihsahn – Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Asgeir Mickelson – Drums
Lars Koppang Norberg – Bass
Jorgen Munkeby – Saxophone

Tracklist: 01. The Barren Lands 02. A Grave Inversed 03. After 04. Frozen Lakes On Mars 05. Undercurrent 06. Austere 07. Heavens Black Sea 08. On the Shores

Links:
Ihsahn MySpace