Good news everyone! Emperor frontman Ihsahn will release his seventh solo studio album on May 7! The album is called Àmr, will be "focused on analog synths and more in-your-face sounds," and features a guest guitar solo from Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson. Sure, that's a lot to digest, but at the same time take a look at Ihsahn's entire discography. The guy isn't exactly sticking to one thing as far as a sound goes.
Perhaps more interestingly is Ihsahn's assertion that he's been "listening to some contemporary R&B and hip-hop stuff with those deep, deep 808s. It’s just somehow darker than a lot of metal or black metal." So this one sounds like it might be more industrial than anything else!
“Knowing that the form would be somewhat similar to what I did on the previous album, and given that I write stuff in a certain way, I wanted to change the wrapping this time. So instead of going with my go-tos of strings and orchestration, I focused on analog synths and more in-your-face sounds.
It goes back to the beginning of Emperor, when we brought in strings and horns inspired by orchestral movie scores by John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith, but at the same time we loved all those eerie synth soundtracks of, for example, John Carpenter‘s ‘Halloween‘.
I’ve also been listening to some contemporary R&B and hip-hop stuff with those deep, deep 808s. It’s just somehow darker than a lot of metal or black metal. It has a depth and an energy to it that I find captivating, so I wanted to explore those arrangement styles as well.”
“Every album I intend to make the darkest album ever. I never set out to make anything more melodic or accessible. However, growing up on ’80s metal, plus having a rather wide range of musical influences, I often end up with quite contrasting elements. This is my seventh solo album, so in the end it really comes down to methods and perspectives that keep me exited and fired up about what I’m working on. If I’m not excited about it, I can’t expect anybody else to be!”
Ihsahn also speaks on getting Åkesson to do a guest solo on the track "Arcana Imperii," which seems like it started off more as a joke than anything else.
With Fredrik, we met first time in Oslo, when I did my debut solo show as support to Opeth and later we’ve hung out on different festivals when we happen to play the same day. Last time in Japan when we played there with Emperor and Opeth. We were talking about guitars and I said, ‘Not to kiss up to you or anything, but you’re absolutely one of my favourite players, so some day I might call you for a guest solo…’ and he says, ‘I’m in!’ He did a fabulous job.”
New music from the album should surface soon. We spoke to Ihsahn a few months ago and he revealed some info about the album to us:
