FAO - WAFFLES

[Junkenstein]

Heard "Das Seelenbrechen" by Ihsahn yet?

If not, drop whatever the fuck you're doing and get it. I'll wait.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Heard "Das Seelenbrechen" by Ihsahn yet?

If not, drop whatever the fuck you're doing and get it. I'll wait.

Ihsahn's got new shit?

[Junkenstein]

He has. Bit of a departure from the usual in some regards, I'd still strongly recommend it.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

He has. Bit of a departure from the usual in some regards, I'd still strongly recommend it.

Nifty. Will have to check it out.

To be honest, reading a brief interview with Ihsahn is probably the only reason I listened to black metal in the first place. It was in a metal magazine that had a black metal featured article, and Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, and some other bands were spotlighted. Not only did Ihsahn sound intelligent, but comparing the picture of Dimmu, who were typically dressed, the picture of Emperor was Ihsahn and Samoth dressed fairly normally. In fact, Ihsahn was wearing a white button down shirt.

I bought IX Equilibrium the next day.

Mind you, this was when I was 18 (I was born in 1981), and I remained Iron Maiden shirt guy until fairly recently. So even then, their manner of dress, which admittedly, was at the time since they totally dressed the part in 1993, I automatically considered them more professional. Interesting.

[Junkenstein]

I can totally understand the professional angle, as it was something that made me pay more attention too. By the time prometheus came around, smart dress was near the norm while everyone else was dicking about in corpse paint.

Now corpse paint can be fucking hilarious:



By which I mean photoshopping Immortal can be fucking hilarious, but it's still not something that makes me think there's something interesting to say. 95% of black metal bands have similar themes so Ishahn/Emperor's departure from that and willingness to actually try and say something always gets kudos.

This album is the most experimental in terms of style, the Sax has been dropped back a bit and Piano pieces are more prominent. Will try and find a link to a couple of favourites shortly.

[Junkenstein]

"Pulse"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb679nk0yWU

[Junkenstein]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7YY_XMerJc
"Regen"

Holy shit, that ending. This is why I love this guy.

[EK WAFFLR]

I've only heard one song on the radio. No internet ftw.
Ishahn's solo stuff never appealed too much to me tbh. Too technical for my tastes. But god damn, the man is a musical genius.