Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen

(CD Album Review)

****
Ihsahn steps even deeper into the abyss...

It's seems after 2012's brilliant 'Eremita' Ihsahn hasn't stopped for breath now releasing this masterpiece barely a year later. Picking up where that album left off while also keeping steady pace with this being his fifth solo album. With each release his musical horizons constantly expanding and evolving.

Opening with what you can come as close to calling a typical Ihsahn song 'Hilber' lets you in gently by setting the scene with some familiar ground before the wonderful 'Regen' sets in slowly like frost. A stripped down song consisting of just vocals and piano before building to a crashing climax. 'Pulse' is simply one of the best songs Ihsahn has ever written. Sounding somewhere between something Massive Attack or Mike Patton would do. It's beautifully dark and atmospheric.

All of Ihsahn's albums create this isolated, winterly landscape and this track epitomizes this in every sense. "I don't know what I fear the most, what I am or what I'm not" is a brilliant lyric. The album then goes down all sorts of route from the crazy improvised 'Tacit2' showcasing the brilliant Tobias Anderson from Leprous on drums.

The two have a work up a great relationship since 2020's After and he has become as essential to Ihsahn's sound then anything else. Then we have the Scott Walker Esq. 'Rec' which leads way to 'M' which builds up to an epic Pink Floyd climax. The album finishes with a couple of ambient pieces that some may be tempted to skip but listening in one sitting these last tracks fit the atmosphere well and are a great finish to the album.

Ihsahn with every passing year becomes one of Metal's most important artist's along with Nergal from Behemoth and Devin Townsend he is just effortlessly light years ahead of everyone. 'Das Seelenbrechen' like Nine inch Nails 'The Fragile', Tool 'Lateralus', Pink Floyd 'Dark side of the Moon' and Scott Walker 'The Drift' to name a few as well as Ihsahn's whole body of work is to be revisited over and over revealing something new with every listen and falling deeper and deeper into it for doing so. This album will make more sense, be more revered and be discovered by generations for decades to come. I've just realised I've not even mentioned his band Emperor who will be headlining the Saturday night of the Bloodstock festival in 2014.