Candlelight Records (2008)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
Open letter to Vegard Sverre Tveitan, also known as Ihsahn.
Dear Ihsahn,
We knew you were great at an amazing style of music; the one played by Emperor. You had very good moments with Peccatum, Thou Shalt Suffer, among other projects you've got involved with as well. When you released “The Adversary”, it was already 'bout time for a solo album, so your fans could finally see the real artist deep within and the inspirations of their idol.
Your debut is a masterpiece. It's absolutely impeccable and impressive. You proved to be a much better musician than any Emperor CD showed us, even the mighty “In The Nightside Eclipse”. In fact, in 2006 we witnessed the birth of a potential-genius. Tracks such as “Called By The Fire”,” Invocation”, “Panem et Circenses”, and “The Pain Is Still Mine” couldn't have been done better; remarkable, technical, creative, innovative.
On the other side of success, there are enormous expectations created by your fans, and that are attributable to the high standards you've set for yourself. Unfortunately, “angL”, an-overall-OK album, doesn't match up to this anticipation neither to the quality of its predecessor.
To start with, “Misanthrope” was the worst-possible choice to be the opening track of this second solo release of yours. It doesn't start where “The Adversary” ended. It just follows the formula of that release with identical ideas, tempos and songwriting patterns. In other words: it ruins the whole eagerness to listen to another brilliant work of art composed by you.
Anyway, things could have developed better. However, out of the remaining eight tracks of “angL”, we can say that there are maybe four that are not totally bland, and two other that truly sparks to the listeners. “Scarab”, “Alchemist”, and “Threnody” are very well played and composed, although a bit unimaginative at certain moments. OK, we got the idea on “Elevator” too. The scales and the structure of the song itself are indeed interesting and have everything to do with the title. Nonetheless, what we really wanted from you were tracks like “Unhealer” (thanks Mikael Åkerfeldt, you've lent an essential hand on this one) and “Monolith”.
In a personal work of self-reflection, do you honestly feel that “Misanthrope”, “Emancipation”, “Malediction”, could be something else but crummy-leftovers or B-Sides from “The Adversary”? I'm sure you don't, and… Three tracks equal one third of the disc.
This afterthought won't change the failures that come with “angL”, but hopefully will help you out on your third full-length. Altogether, this new one sounds like a bunch of material (some great stuff, but most of it uninspired) taken from “The Adversary” sessions and put together just so you wouldn't lose the momentum with the fans. You lost and you failed.
Sincerely,
Lizar Borowski
Warsaw, Poland.
Tuba (www.tubarec.com)
www.ihsahn.com
www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
Composed by Lizar Borowski