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Ihsahn > Eremita > 2012, CD, Candlelight Records USA (US) > Reviews
Ihsahn - Eremita

After After - 70%

FullMetalAttorney, July 25th, 2013

Ihsahn’s After was easily the best progressive metal album of 2010 for most of that year—until Enslaved showed up right at the time that everyone began putting together their end-of-year lists. Still, the Norwegian metal veteran had a strong showing on many of those lists. I personally didn’t spend a lot of time with that album; while I recognized its excellence, there were simply other things that occupied my attention. Yet whenever I do put it on, it digs its tendrils a little deeper into my skull.

Eremita continues the progressive, saxophone-infused extreme prog of the last album, not straying too far from the formula. It differs in a few respects, however.

The most obvious difference is that Eremita is far more immediate. There are catchy, melodically-sung choruses on nearly every song. It’s also got a bit more doom in the blend (see especially “The Grave”). It would also seem that Ihsahn himself spent some time listening to the album that tended to overshadow his own, as there is certainly a lot of resemblance to Enslaved (see “The Paranoid” or the combination of “Something Out There” and “Grief”).

On the other hand, Eremita is not as cohesive as After. Perhaps that has something to do with the numerous guest musicians. While I enjoy Devin Townsend’s contribution, for instance, it does seem a bit out of place. And the track featuring Townsend sounds like a weak Townsend song, in many ways. It doesn’t fit. Similarly, Jeff Loomis’s solos on “The Eagle and the Snake,” while excellent, also seem out of place. These two tracks seem forced, end up being two of the weakest on the record. Still, there are some very good songs, like the aforementioned Enslaved sound-alikes, opener “Arrival,” and closer “Departure.”

Less inspired than its predecessor, but more immediate, Eremita will probably disappoint those who lost their bowel control on After. By no means is it a throwaway, however. With expectations in check, you can find plenty to enjoy.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

A less impressive bout from Ihsahn. - 60%

ConorFynes, July 16th, 2012

Regardless of where Ihsahn goes with his music, it's doubtful subsequent albums will escape comparisons with his flagship work in the legendary Emperor.Although most musicians who choose to go to 'solo' route end up dwarfed by their younger selves, Ihsahn has continued evolving his sound, inching towards prog rock with each album. Many don't share my enthusiasm with Ihsahn's solo material, but his album trilogy of "The Adversary", "Angl", and "After" make up some of the fiercest progressive metal to come out in the past decade. In other words, I had big expectations for "Eremita"; an album I hoped would follow up on the streak of excellence. While the musicianship and scale of the previous albums is still here, "Eremita" does not strike me the same way his earlier work did, even after many devoted listens. The sound of Ihsahn is here in full, but there's something missing that keeps it from truly taking flight.

Anyone who heard 2010's "After" will not be surprised to hear that Ihsahn has more or less tossed out the black metal aesthetic in his music. Although his trademark rasp is still here, progressive metal is the lifeforce on "Eremita". Technical guitar riffs and symphonic overtones are paired with an even greater presence of soft clean vocals. At no time before has Ihsahn so visibly aligned himself with prog. Whether it's time signature-bending organ licks or a five minute-plus saxophone solo, there's the sense that Ihsahn is becoming more liberated with trying new things in his music. Even so, the dark atmosphere has not been forgotten entirely. The ultra-gloomy "The Grave" takes its time to paint a grizzly picture befitting its title.

My first experience with Ihsahn was his Mikael Akerfeldt collaboration on the song "Unhealer" (from his second record "Angl"), so it's pretty cool to hear him bringing other guests into the fold. Among these, Einar Solberg- the lead vocalist for Ihsahn's touring band Leprous, not to mention one of my favourite singers- delivers his trademark belt on the opener "Arrival". Nevermore guitar hero Jeff Loomis throws in a guitar solo, and- last, but not least, Devin Townsend pays Ihsahn back for his cameo on "Deconstruction" and offers some of his unique charm to the spacey "Introspection". Although Loomis' solo does not really stand out in the midst of Ihsahn's brilliant guitar work, the vocal performances are excellent. Ihsahn's vocals here are on a general par with what he has done over the past few albums, although there's certainly an impression that he isn't straining to push himself further than he's already gone before. This is an impression I get with most aspects of "Eremita".

"Eremita" is certainly not bad, but for the first time, I find myself feeling decidedly underwhelmed by what Ihsahn has done here. Looking back on his trilogy, each of those albums had a unique feel to it. "The Adversary" was very symphonic, "Angl" was fierce and to-the-point, and "After" was the leap into full fledged prog metal. With "Eremita", there's certainly a shift in an increasingly progressive direction, but I cannot help but feel that this album is a sequel to the themes explored on "After", rather than something truly fresh. I might even go as far as to say that "Eremita" feels like a collection of b-sides that didn't make it onto "After". The production and performance are all up to par, but "Eremita" seems to lack a personal identity of its own. By the end of "Departure" and period of silence after the album's over, there's a sense of disappointment, and it only seemed to grow with each listen.

Besides its lack of unique identity, I cannot truly pinpoint where "Eremita" is undercut. As I've said, it's got some fantastic musicianship and a sense of real intelligence to it. Almost as if Ihsahn's genius has brickwalled, "Eremita" comes out feeling like a decaffeinated version of what he has done in the past. It's a tightly-knit, enjoyable record, but I think I will remember this album as one that didn't quite meet the expectations I had for it.

Ihsahn continues the awesome streak - 95%

absurder21, July 3rd, 2012

If there’s a man who encapsulates the nature of “progressive” for the black side of extreme metal, it’s definitely Ihsahn. While heroes such as Bathory and Enslaved also show the progressive nature in themselves, evolving and shifting with every release, it’s Ihsahn’s work that sticks out the most in terms of rapid change, originality and evolution – throwing in something different every 2 years (literally). Even from the Emperor days, going from raw black metal, to majestic symphonic black metal to progressive metal(that being the genre he would continue from on this project) in that same time span, the man is capable of anything other than letting his acts stagnate. His solo career is no different.

So with the wrapping up of his A-trilogy (The Adversary, AngL) in 2010 on After, fans were curious as to what he was going to do with his project afterwards. So many interesting elements had been brought in on After that it would be a tragedy to see some of those attributes be completely stricken if he had cleaned the slate and started with a whole new approach again. Luckily, even though he has somewhat shifted direction, the man is too intelligent to let us down; hence those approaches we didn’t want to see erased were increased and matured sevenfold on this record.

Considering Ihsahn’s backup band is now the wonderfully talented and fresh progressive metal band Leprous (whose 2011’s Bilateral ate up the progressive underground, with its completely unique take on the genre), he certainly has access to an inhumanly skilled group of musicians. Not that he or the musicians used before weren’t talented, but there really is an original and technical element to Leprous that no other band has had before. In that, the schizophrenic, chaotic playing found on the previous records has not only been upped to near-speaker blowing levels, but so has the cathartic impact of the mellow, chilled out nocturne ballads and clean verses.

With such sonic insanity, an influx in extreme metal elements (that had seemed to somewhat been diminishing with every release) helps make that mental fury possible. So while the man’s work has been less and less black since somewhere on Anthems to Welkin at Dusk(to the extent that most people don’t consider the records after it black metal at all), he takes a U-turn here and actually brings back some of the black, as well as throwing in a hint of death and doom metal too. For example, there are some 7-stringed, tremolo-picked minor notes that sound bloody sinister, and seem like they could have been lifted from the likes of Akercocke or even Gojira’s calmer, more ominous and atmospheric moments. And in terms of doom, there’s a lot more stretched, monolithic riffs, also of the evil and ominous variety, that help give the slower parts that crushing edge. It’s not like the black elements in Ihsahn’s solo career haven’t been there, the vocals and cacophonic elements have always had their origins in his black metal work, but on this he lets in a lot more of the recognizable black metal elements from the Anthems days, which is unusual. The song something out There even starts off with a blast beats, treble heavy, tremolo picked notes and an in your face symphonic part that backs up the riffing. It then fuses it with his more melodic, solo-project derived sung choruses to make a perfect example of song that encapsulates Ihsahn’s career in one.

But despite being processed through extreme metal, this record does leans the most towards progressive metal, as usual for his solo stuff – but to up the ante there’s a notable increase in jazz influence on this one. It’s got way more odd-timed drumming, head spinning bass lines and calculated guitar riffs that would make anyone quit their current instrument. It’s not afraid to totally switch timbre either, going from ballistic chaos to quiet pieces that may be nothing more but velvet pianos, light drumming and crooned vocals. So you can see how it’s also very song orientated (is that the right word?) too, with Ihsahn’s clean sung verses being as catchy and emotional as any ballad (a pretty dark ballad at that, without the cheesy grandeur) or infectious tune. Luckily, It’s still appropriate and compliments the extreme metal aspects. It’s not like any of this seems un-fluid or inappropriate in any sense at least. We also have the much, much acclaimed return of Jorgen Munkeby on the saxophone! He made a grand appearance on After, and really did help compliment the desolation, with its piercing notes that added a wordless narrative over the songs. And on “Eremita”, this is no different – although to be honest even though there is more of him, he doesn’t pack the same punch every time, as sometime’s he’s layered in with parts that don’t require him.

To be honest, I could go on (for example I deleted the paragraph on how bloody awesome the lyrics are). This record is so packed full of various elements and pleasantries it would probably have been more appropriate to do a song by song review of each song really. It’s so contradictory to itself in many ways, being both totally evil and mature in its melodies. Sometimes the songs are more of a peaceful, soulful catharsis and sometimes its intent is only to destroy. But what it does do rather well, I think, is sum up the emotions that the A trilogy contained, whether it’s purposeful or not. When AXIS OF METAL interviewed Ihsahn, he mentioned that each record stood for a beginning, middle and end(Creation, life and destruction – resulting in total desolation, respectively), with each of those records encapsulating those feelings. And while “Eremita” is meant to be a different endeavour, the way the emotion flows can’t help but hint at those three feelings together in conjunction. It’s pessimistic and optimistic, dead and alive, a creator and destroyer. In the end, what the record says to me is that even when life is completely eradicated (as our planet has experienced many times before us), a seed somewhere is always growing, waiting to start life anew.

(Originally written for AXIS OF METAL as Adam Korchok http://axisofmetal.com/2012/06/ihsahn-eremita-review/)

The release of the year - 97%

lordazmolozmodial, June 20th, 2012

Since the dawn of the second movement of black metal art, Ihsahn has been one of the most important multi-instrumentalists who participate in developing this kind of music (alongside with Abbath, Fenriz, Varg Vikernes, Nocturno Culto, Satyr, Infernus, and Samoth), these artists helped making the black metal music to be more dynamic and complex with time, especially Ihsahn who added orchestral and symphonic fevers into his compositions. Since Ihsahn has officially split-up with his legendary band Emperor, he tried to advance his own progressive and extreme metal project "Ihsahn", somehow you can compare Emperor with Ihsahn musically because they have a lot of common graceful and bright efforts, this kind of brightness can also be heard in his gothic band "Peccatum", similar production tricks and technic (Jens Bogren made this album sound very superb), comparable complexity.

There are a lot of things that make "Eremita" particular and different than the other previous Ihsahn's albums, the progressivness of the songwriting is now tainted with more loud and extreme sound, every chord progression takes a major role of showing how much coldly professional is the performance that has been made, the bass-lines (that have been done by Ihsahn too) are way more biotic and they collide with the rhythm guitar perfectly. The drumming is holy and essential, every single crash devoured the brutality of the guitar edges gently, Tobias Andersen has given sacred efforts here by working with Ihsahn in a studio album for the first time, his work in the Norwagian progressive metal band "Leprous" made his hand made of gold, but Tobias is not the only musician guest from the band "Leprous", Einar Solberg (who also played keyboards live with Emperor) has done some guest vocals in the track "Arrival", his vocals added more progressive metal sound to the song.

There is a real variety in this record, some dry violent tracks like "Something out there" and "Departure" reflect a very deep inspiration and shows a lot of extreme peaks with Ihsahn's high and crispy vocals, but some smooth wet tracks like "Introspection" and "Recollection" have been made to show more warm and soft progressive sound with Ihsahn's warm clean vocals, the Saxophone performance also gave the songwriting more passion and precision. Most of the tracks show a great balance of progressive sound and extreme black metal touches, tracks like "The Paranoid" and "Catharsis" and "The Grave" proved that Ihsahn is made of more than a hundred professional musicans, and these kinds of tracks are the reason why do I prefer Ihsahn and consider him as "my best extreme musician ever", his insane vocals and intelligent throat are in an open war with his hands, the spaces between the guitar strings get shorter and shorter as his sacred voice gets higher and louder.

To be honest, the debut album "The Adversary" was my favorite album for Ihsahn, but while listening to Eremita, I slightly changed my mind, this year will never be forgotten with this amazing record, I would never describe the beauty and charm of this album even if I wrote a million pages, so let your ears enjoy the real meaning of extreme art. If you are into the previous album of Ihsahn and the legendary albums of Emperor, then this record will surely satisfy your every sense, even your tongue will get wet while listening to this magic.

Originally written for:
www.jorzine.com