Ihsahn:After (2010)

For me, it's easier to sum up what's wrong with an album than what perfect with one. Great albums exist as if a part of nature, like elemental monuments waiting to be realized. Poor albums are music realized with blinders on, and reveling the faults like filling a hole in the ground with your critique.

After, Ihsahn's third solo album, is one of those earth elementals, a fucking great album; great in how it makes the saxophone seem like a completely natural instrument for a metal album. That's because the focus of this album is on the songwriting, and not random experimentation. Vocals range from clean and melodic(Ihsahn has a very expressive pure singing voice) to terrifying screeching. The riffs, much chunkier this time, compared to the tremulous black metal technique of previous albums, are quality, somewhat simplified(that is, catchier), but very textured. What's breathtaking is when the saxophone is used where you were expecting a guitar riff, or lead melody line. I've heard this album described as jazz metal/fusion, but I don't think that's true. It's all streamlined prog metal, and the sparingly used sax simply adds another texture to the music. Keyboards are also used, perhaps even more sparingly, and are tasteful. The somewhat slick production values are a plus, as no instrument is ever lost in the mix, and is a stark contrast to sheets of white noise employed by Ihsahn's former band, Emperor. The song that sums up the albums approach best is the second song, "A Grave Inversed". It starts out as familiar, frantic black metal fare, but the unexpected sax line thirty seconds in knocks you on your ass, and it's wild, uncharted territory for there on out.

The mature lyrics are not explicit in expressing turmoil, evoking more a quiet horror, letting the music express the more violent emotions. Take this line from one of the quieter moments on the album, from the 10 minute epic "Undercurrent":

Quiet surface
Blurred reflection
Heaven's mirror
Calm awaiting

Like glass until it breaks
Like glass until it breaks

And take this line from the amazing song "Frozen lake On Mars", opening riff expressing the wonder of exploration, and reads like more traditional metal fare, but coming to a more existential and melancholic conclusion:

blue eyes like frozen lakes on mars, made fury
that there once was life inside
blue eyes like frozen lakes on mars,
the cold remains the fires died

After is my favorite album from 2010. Highly recommended.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10