Wow, so soon after Eremita. Bring it!

Ihsahn is one of few artists who can truly do no wrong Can't wait to hear this

So soon! Weird songtitles, wonder what crazy concept he got into this time.

Written by Guest on 25.08.2013 at 19:55

Any idea what the source was for the track listing? The only only site I found with the info also doesn't list source info, and Ihsahn himself hasn't released the list yet to my knowledge.

I was looking for this as well, didn't find it but it seems the cd is already out there for press reviews. Here is one of them by Photograve f.e:

Quote:
"Few artists in modern heavy music have created such an extraordinary and unique body of work as Ihsahn. Having refined and redefined black metal with the now legendary Emperor, Norway's foremost musical extremist has spent the last decade establishing himself as a fearless and wildly idiosyncratic solo artist, but even by his own remarkable standards, Ihsahn's fifth solo album Das Seelenbrechen is a bold and mind-blowing step into the unknown.

In contrast to the adventurous progressive shades and saxophone augmentations of his last two albums - After (2009) and Eremita (2011) - this latest masterpiece exists in an entirely unfamiliar sonic world, as Ihsahn draws upon his most esoteric influences, embraces the spirit of the avant-garde and creates a sonic tapestry like no other.

Comprising ten vivid but disparate explorations in sound that range from bittersweet electronica to deranged and feral improvisation, Das Seelenbrechen is every bit as dark and destructive as the artist's previous work, but this is a far more disorientating and disturbing creation than anything he has attempted in the past.

From the obtuse structures and mutant riffing of opener Hiber and the staccato grooves of NaCl through to the brooding electro balladry of Pulse, the churning, amorphous dissonance of Tacit 2 and the simply terrifying sonic sprawl of the closing See, this is the sound of a ferocious talent plunging into ominous new waters with nothing but the unerring pursuit of creative purity in mind.

Recorded at his own studio in Norway in collaboration with drummer Tobias Ørnes Andersen (also of prog crew Leprous), Das Seelenbrechen eschews traditional metal instrumentation in favour of a limitless textural landscape that evokes the freewheeling spirit of artists like Diamanda Galas and Scott Walker, while remaining firmly rooted in the pitch-black well of inspiration that first informed Ihsahn's work back in the Emperor days.

There is nothing quite like this album and there is no one quite like Ihsahn. Listen without prejudice and expect to be taken on a bewildering journey through the outer limits of heaviness."

Oh wow, it's coming out this year? Cool! Can't wait to hear it!

Owkay... so this should be good.

~No fiddling on the piano for this one! GUARANTEED!

Ripped from a radio stream so don't bitch about sound quality, yet.

Here

http://skullsnbones.com/listen-to-a-new-song-from-ihsahn-now/

Soooo strange song. This probably is just the intro.... hmmm

Not funny.

Really not sure what to think of this. It starts out well then it all just goes downhill.

Not that I dislike it (quite the contrary), but I just couldn't figure out what the hell was happening during the last track.
It surely needs more listens, btw.

Dayum good, I really enjoyed this. Ihsahn never fails. Not much metal here and totally avant-garde but interesting record overall. A lotta ambient passages like...... Njiqahdda without the metal parts. Drumming is awesome as usual courtesy of that fucking amazingly talented guys from Leprous.

Written by BaneConall on 19.10.2013 at 17:33

Really not sure what to think of this. It starts out well then it all just goes downhill.

This is how I felt
the first three songs are really good, the fourth is okay, then the tacits and after are kind of scary...

It grows. Very good album, enjoyable, with great moments. (except See)
Now I need the following Ihsahn record

Tacit2 + Tacit are realy epic. Indeed Tacit is the best moment of the album.

Good and interesting album but maybe a bit too chaotic in some moments.

Ihsahn just gets worse and worse. The first album was great, the two thereafter good. After that it just goes downhill.

I immediately thought this was a step up from his last album; so obviously I was pleasantly surprised.

This one is really good , the other ones I forgot after some time ... really weird but great album.

The first 4 songs are brilliant. Unfortunately, after that I didn't understand much .

I don't like the direction it takes after Tacit, it abruptly goes from rhythmically structured songs to these very loose and formless tracks. Maybe if these were shared differently between the first six it would be better, it really looses my attention towards the end.
That said, Regen is one of the best tunes I've heard this year!

The loss of coherency later in the album is to represent the soulbreaking, the severing of mind and essence. Tacit 2 and Tacit are when that happens and then afterwards is the final descent into madness, and Ihsahn's attempt to portray that musically. It works really well for me, especially Sub Alter. Though the bluesy guitar on M and the shitfuckery of See are questionable. He may have been able to do all of that better but I guess he likes his way of doing things. I don't intend to listen to the less coherent stuff very much but it works artistically.

I like that he's doing different things, hopefully he has something else in store soon, like comparable to the time he took between Eremita and this.

For me, this is Ihsahn at his most experimental and progressive. It also seems to be his "lightest" album-that is, the one with less emphasis on extreme metal influences (specifically the lack of harsh vocals and the odd blastbeat here and there) and a stronger focus on dynamic and ambient material. The album is thus split into two halves-The first, a more energetic, more immediate collection of songs, and the second, weirder sounding and more inclusion of other instruments such as the saxophone,etc. It's pretty damn good if I'm honest too, though I very rarely get disappointed by any of Ihsahn's material. Highlights for me are 'Hiber' and 'Tacit'.

Written by Unhealer on 31.10.2013 at 20:47

I don't like the direction it takes after Tacit, it abruptly goes from rhythmically structured songs to these very loose and formless tracks.

It might be a bit avant-garde for your tastes. He's certainly ventured into that branch of metal in this album.

Written by LeKiwi on 13.11.2013 at 16:50

It might be a bit avant-garde for your tastes. He's certainly ventured into that branch of metal in this album.

Nah, usually I'm all up for crazy avant-garde. I think the problem is that it just goes too delicate and soft from there, that's a thing I don't like too much, specially if it's four songs in a row and to end an album

Written by Unhealer on 13.11.2013 at 23:52

Nah, usually I'm all up for crazy avant-garde. I think the problem is that it just goes too delicate and soft from there, that's a thing I don't like too much, specially if it's four songs in a row and to end an album

It certainly does mellow quite a bit in the tracks you mentioned. You could always rearrange the tracks to suit yourself This recurring issue regarding the order of tracks is one of the reasons why I never listen to albums from start to finish.

Written by LeKiwi on 14.11.2013 at 01:34

It certainly does mellow quite a bit in the tracks you mentioned. You could always rearrange the tracks to suit yourself This recurring issue regarding the order of tracks is one of the reasons why I never listen to albums from start to finish.

I thought of that many times and with many albums... but it's the way the artists intended us to listen to the album and it's definitely part of it, I refuse to do that

Written by Unhealer on 14.11.2013 at 04:44

I thought of that many times and with many albums... but it's the way the artists intended us to listen to the album and it's definitely part of it, I refuse to do that

People have different approaches to listening to albums. Personally, I can't find the time to sit and listen to an album from start to finish and I rarely judge it in that manner. Although that's probably due to the volume of music I sift through on a daily and rather sporadic basis.

3 first tracks are great, My final rating is "8.4" .