{"id":46444,"date":"2016-04-11T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=46444"},"modified":"2016-04-10T19:33:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T00:33:11","slug":"review-ihsahn-arktis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/review-ihsahn-arktis\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Ihsahn – Arktis."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

SMASH DAT LIKE BUTTON IF U UP<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m going to resist going full fanboy, giving this a 5-star review, and telling you to buy it. Instead, let us attempt a somewhat objective review of Ihsahn<\/strong>‘s Artkis.\u00a0<\/em>Anyone familiar with the Emperor<\/strong> frontman’s most recent work wont be surprised with the album. What is<\/em> remarkable about\u00a0Arktis.<\/em> is the execution of the age-old Ihsahn recipe: one part Das Seelenbrechen<\/em>; one part Eremita<\/em>; just a sprinkling of Prometheus<\/em>-era Emperor. The result is the perfectly seared rib-eye of Ihsahn’s later career.<\/p>\n

\"Releases<\/a>Released April 08, 2016 via Candlelight, Arktis.<\/em> marks the sixth full-length album from Ihsahn. While I wouldn’t call it Ihsahn’s solo magnum opus (a title forever-and-always given to 2008’s After<\/em>), the album has fulfilled all my personal expectations. Eleven tracks of carefully articulated prog metal, Arktis.
\n<\/em>incorporates about every genre we’ve come to expect. There are a handful of tracks, like the pre-released “My Heart is of the North,” that are standard fare proggy black metal, with sing-songy choruses. Just as common are the electronica and synth-ridden numbers, with spastic changes in tempo and tone. Even smooth and soulful makes its way into Ihsahn’s crooning voice, which has taken on an even more panoramic variety.<\/p>\n

Arktis. <\/em>also features a new curveball or two, the first of which is “Until I Too Dissolve.” This track is something I can only describe as very close to power metal: Ihsahn even gives us a moment of falsetto, and that main opening riff could’ve been written by Van Halen<\/strong>. It is a straight-up banger. The odd pitches keep coming throughout the album, like the song “South Winds,” which is a bit too goth, and other moments that border on what I disdainfully call “circus music.” Those diversions are why I cannot give this album a full five stars. But for every moment where Arktis<\/em>. manages go astray, there are hundreds where it excels.<\/p>\n

Ihsahn has also brought in a handful of guest appearances for Arktis.<\/em>, all of which complement the grander picture. “Celestial Violence,” the second-to-last track and album standout, features vocals from his ex-backing band Leprous<\/a><\/strong>‘ Einar Solberg. It also features Trivium<\/strong>‘s Matt Heafy on “Mass Darkness,” and Shining<\/strong>‘s [NOR] J\u00f8rgen Munkeby augments “Crooked Red Line” for a beautiful track reminiscent of Ihsahn’s After<\/em>-era material.<\/p>\n

I feel like my opinion of the album is quite clear, and I often find it hard to not cut Ihsahn a break when there’s a need for it. So, now that the serious stuff is out of the way, I have developed a simple flowchart for anyone unsure of where they will fall in their enjoyment of Arktis.<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"You<\/a>

You know who you are.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"You<\/a>

You knew it was going to happen, 4.5 out of 5 Flaming Toilets!<\/p><\/div>\n

You can buy Ihsahn’s Arktis.<\/em>, out now on Candlelight Records (April 08, 2016).
\nYou can preview the track “Mass Darkness” feat Matt Heafy via Decibel here<\/a>
\nIhsahn.com<\/a> | Candlelight Records USA<\/a> | Ihsahn @ Metal-Archives<\/a>
\n(images VIA<\/a>, VIA<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SMASH DAT LIKE BUTTON IF U UP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":46446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Review: Ihsahn - Arktis.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[70],"tags":[7171,7173,7174,2050,2233,1588,80,7172,417],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ihsahn_wide-13f837fe6d798ce53cdd1b43681f6c220446e0b2.jpg?fit=707%2C397&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}