As so many things in these realms, my story with Ihsahn's solo career begun with Devin Townsend. Yeah I know, shocking. "Introspection", the song in question, blew my away the first time I heard it. Its chord choices, almost doom-like strut and direction were a far cry from Emperor's frozen and refined savagery. Or so I thought but more on that later. Devin takes the helm initially and he keeps its simple by opting for a more "open" singing style that accentuates certain vowels which, in conjunction with the words being sung, creates this gentle veil of melancholy. And then the turtleneck maestro barges in with his iconic shrieks while... double bass spam and 8 strings chug along? This is heavy, like Meshuggah's back yard heavy. The party does not stop there because Devin comes back once again after a lengthy passage featuring layered acoustic guitars, pinch harmonics and a sick solo for good measure. This time around though "Time dissolves before my eyes" sound noticeably more determined and powerful. At one point we even get the two singing over each other and it's still one of the coolest things I ever heard. More surprises await after and you can be sure I immediately halted all I was doing and found the album containing this banger.
Eremita, Ihsahn's fourth solo offering was the album in question was released exactly ten years ago and it's one of the albums which altered my way of looking at black metal. A contentious topic to be sure but given Ihsahn's role in the history of the genre, it felt very refreshing to see him tackle whatever he decided in this manner. The conceptual "A trilogy" that predated Eremita already showcased many styles. The first one, The Adversary leaned the most towards the 70's with numerous nods to bands such as Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate. With the arrival of angL the neo-classical-meets-black metal territory he explored in later days of Emperor came back with a vengeance. However, as much as I like these two records, they are my least listened to in his catalogue because they are the most Emperor-y out of all them. After, the great finale, saw Ihsahn re-inventing himself by using an eight string guitar, a saxophone and generally being more abstract with his choice of words and imagery. Saxophone duties were done by Jørgen Munkeby responsible for Norwegian Shining kicking and subsequently sucking ass. With him, Asgeir Mickelson (Borknagar) behind the kit and Lars K. Norberg (Spiral Architect) on the bass, After turned out to be ahead of its time, about eight years if we're just looking at the saxophone part which Rivers Of Nihil popularized and now almost every band wants to do. Stop with that by the way. Just pick another woodwind or brass instrument like Imperial Triumphant or Voivod OR learn to write songs that don't need gimmicks to stand out.
And this brings us to now, or rather Eremita. Its style is similar to that of After's with quirkier songwriting approach and big eight string presence but the whole affair is decidedly more... introspective. Large open fields of frostbitten nothingness have been replaced by almost schizophrenic and paranoid ramblings and occasional voice of reason but even that is steeped in darkness.
As it often times is the case with Ihsahn, Nietzsche served as an inspiration which is why he graces the album cover. His mad and intense gaze hints at everything that's to come without you even realizing. Plus, eremita is hermit in Latin so there you go, even more flavor! Really simple and effective stuff, love it. I mentioned "Introspection" but not the opener "Arrival". It's a key part of the puzzle as it sets this loosely-based narrative revolving around our psyche or the more extreme parts of it.
Einar from Leprous lends his vocals which lack the overdramatized overly accentuated vowels (read oooAAAaaaAAAA spam) that plague their sound now. Einar in this song, at this moment in 2022, feels like that old friend you bump into after many months of absence and have a super pleasant chat with. Great track with memorable vocal interplay and suitable intensity and just enough sudden transitions to kick things off in the right direction.
Oh and seeing how I mentioned Leprous, their former drummer, Tobias Ørnes Anderse makes his debut here as Ihsahn's right hand stick...man and he's absolutely brilliant. He does not take all your attention like his modern counterpart and Einar of today, rather he tastefully slaps you when the time for it arrives and does not shy away from keeping things very slow, like doom-metal levels of slow. "The Grave" for example, does this and is rife with great ideas that are introduced more and more as we approach its zenith. It's the most black metal song on Eremita with almost no blastbeats to speak off. Instead we are greeted with hysterical saxophone bursts that acts as a weird melodic lead when it feels like it. There are also these spacious passages with insane jazzy drum rolls and more saxophone mania while Ihsahn just plays these gorgeous and ominous as hell chords.
And as much as he is in charge, he has no problem in letting other instruments "talk" and "The Grave" utilizes this to amazing results. That crescendo which leads into the song's final act never gets old. One could say that this song HAMMERS its way into your lobe. OK that was bad but you know what else is?
To be honest not that much. While falling short in terms of highs like on After, Eremita still delivers a memorable and varied listening experience by one of the planet's most talented voices. The aforementioned tracks, "Catharsis", "Departure", "Something Out There" all have those classic Ihsahn touches. "Something Out There" in particular harkens back to Emperor with its symphonic leanings and good ole blastbeats and tremolo picks. The clean singing could deter some which I hope is not the case because that's just silly due to how well they're done. And the "selling out" argument some brought up doesn't work as well.
While Eremita does have very catchy choruses and melodies, they're often times contrasted by these weird angular passages or scarcely-populated sections that evoke a feeling of... well that look on the cover. "Grief" that leads into "The Grave" is Ihsahn doing a dramatic and discordant classical interlude which for these pair of ears sounds like a more gothic Penderecki, super cool and totally not-selling out type material. "The Eagle And The Snake", another banger, lulls you in with this cool saxophone-assisted groove before Ihsahn shrieks his way in and then, boom, chorus time. It's not your average "hey look at how epic and big I am" type deal, rather it's this pleasant collection of tones and bearded Jonathan Davis gently singing but something is terribly off a... holy shit this is intense. The sax also does wonders here because it acts as an integral part of a given song, something VERY different from the trend I criticized above.
Of course, your enjoyment of Eremita will depend on your tolerance of this woodwind instrument, eight strings and wonky proggy goodness but I firmly believe it has and does enough to warrant AT LEAST one visit from anyone interested. And that brings us to the whole black metal argument.
Black metal, as a genre, started off as a counter to the status quo, a big middle finger to the institutions that disrespected or completely tossed aside predating cultures, the polished production of then popular releases and staleness of death metal. It put back the "danger" and extremity into metal which at that point it lacked severely. Ihsahn, like the rest of that initial movement, approached it from a point of angst and romantic-leaning nihilism and misanthropy, no doubt a result of not "fitting in" but as we grow older, that angst turns to acceptance. It doesn't remove that anger, rather it sidelines it because all of us need to survive this increasingly cringe and doomed existence we only have one shot at. Anger after all, clouds the mind and often times leads to poor decisions and is draining more than anything.
So seeing one of the key players of the genre taking that mindset and expanding it into something that still retains that darkness is awesome. It may not sound like its primordial form but for him (and me) it's as black metal as it gets. Certain individuals won't agree with this which is fine, as long as the answer isn't the way it usually ends up being. Autistic screeching from kids and manchildren too busy thinking about aesthetics of an era they most likely weren't even a part of.
So you keep on doing you Ihshy... which he totally does seeing how he released three full-lengths and two EP's since Eremita, the immediate follow up Das Seelenbrechen being one of the most unique records I know off, think it's safe to say the spirit of black metal is in safe hands. Happy tenth birthday you glorious piece of frost-clad mania!
Eremita was released through Candlelight Records on June 18th of 2012.
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