Ihsahn - Ámr

Ihsahn, the philosophically inclined Emperor frontman has been gradually turning his focus toward progressive metal with just a foot in black metal since dedicating himself to his solo career. His seventh solo studio album here follows 2016’s Arktis., in which he continued to add to the progressive aspect of the sound on which he has based his solo career. Ámr is very much a natural progression from Arktis., but a less consistent outing ultimately.

Where the album stumbles is usually in the compositional department, with a few songs just not crafted to Ihsahn’s or prog metal’s strengths. The songs “Sámr” and “Twin Black Angels” are weaker monents on the album for their deadpan performance and basic structures that make them pretty avoidably dull moments on the album. I like the gradual integration of the strings on “Sámr”, but its choruses especially remind me of Opeth’s less thrilling retro-prog indulgence of late. “Twin Black Angels”, though, sounds like a less attentive Devin Townsend rock tune, and not a flattering angle for Ihsahn. Though not as sleepily delivered, “Where You Are Lost and I Belong” is another lower energy song, and despite its cool percussion section, it kind of drags on not going anywhere. It’s a song that kind of shows the variety of Ihsahn’s clean vocal styles, and which ones aren’t all that powerful. I’ll say it does end on a good note though.

A greater portion of the album does follow through on Ihsahn’s goal of black metal-infused prog though. “Arcana Imperii” is probably the most well-constructed balance of prog theatrics and blood-pumping metal riffage on the album and possibly in Ihsahn’s solo career. The binary synth backing melody of “Lend Me the Eyes of Millennia” sets a sufficiently dark tone for the song that blast beats and growled vocals follow up on quite nicely. The gothic and black metal track “One Less Enemy” and the absolutely ripping downtuned “Marble Soul” are the indulgent riffers on the album and their proper execution comes as no surprise, but quite welcome, and certainly with melodic and progressive merit as well. “In Rites of Passage” is also one of the heavier prog tracks on the album, but is ultimately a bit more clunky than proggy, though its Tool-esque passage at the end does a good job in its transition back into the song’s heavier riff. The closing track, “Wake” opts for quick, vigorous blast beating during it’s verses and a cool Petrucci-ish solo during the bridge, but the vocal melody on which the chorus stands is some shaker musical ground, not for its accidentals but its less than exciting delivery of a long string of quarter notes.

Even though Ámr is not a significant step up or down from Arktis., its consistency within Ihsahn’s solo discography continues his path down this road of semi-gothic, blackened prog and further establishes his dominance on this sound he’s investing in. Most of the album’s significance is within the context of Ihsahn’s lore as an additive of the sum of his artistic works, and less on its standalone impact on his career or the style.