Vegard Sverre Tveitan helped change the course of metal while he was still in his teens. The man better known to the wider world as Ihsahn was the vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player with black metal standard-bearers Emperor, whose landmark debut album, 1994’s In The Nightside Eclipse – released when Ihsahn was just 18 –brought a frosty grandiosity to this harshest of genres. Derided in many quarters at the time, both Emperor and the scene to which they were central are viewed as hugely influential today.
Unlike Emperor guitarist Samoth and drummer Faust, who were convicted of arson and murder respectively, Ihsahn steered clear of direct involvement in the criminality and violence that gave black metal its initial notoriety. He remained with his hand on Emperor’s creative tiller until they disbanded in 2001 following their fourth album, Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire &Demise (they subsequently reunited in 2006, though purely as a live band).
For the last 18 years, he’s ploughed a unique furrow as a solo artist, incorporating elements of prog, jazz and pop into his expansive, inventive music. His latest, self-titled album is the closest he’s come to returning to his extreme metal roots since the Emperor days, though, in typical Ihsahn fashion, it’s accompanied by a companion album, an entirely orchestral reimaging of the same songs.
“Music’s an addiction and it has been for as long as I can remember,” he says in his measured and thoughtful way. “I know that sounds pretentious, but
